ténèbres
The verdict
“ténèbres” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #7,913 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #7,913
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
Dominant Wiktionary sense: Privation de lumière ; obscurité.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ténèbres |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \te.nɛbʁ\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #7,913 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ténèbres” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for ténèbres is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \te.nɛbʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #7,913 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for ténèbres, with forms such as "tenebres", "tnéèbres", and "tténèbres". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "teneurs", "ténébreux", "tendres", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is ténèbres, spelled T-É-N-È-B-R-E-S, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.
Definition
- 1Privation de lumière ; obscurité.
- 2Enfer.
- 3Matines qui se chantent l’après-midi du mercredi, du jeudi et du vendredi de la semaine sainte.
- 4Choses obscures ou incompréhensibles
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: tenebres,tnéèbres,tténèbres,ténbères,ténnèbres,ténèbbres,ténèbers,ténèbress,ténèbrres,ténèbrse,ténèrbes,téènbres,étnèbres
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ténèbres — measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Edit distance from "ténèbres"
Frequency rank: #7,913 in French
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "ténèbres"?
What does "ténèbres" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ténèbres"?
How do you pronounce "ténèbres"?
What language does "ténèbres" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “ténèbres”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-É-N-È-B-R-E-S — every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \te.nɛbʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “teneurs” — see the side-by-side comparison. ténèbres vs teneurs
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Nearby French words
Other entries that begin with the letter T in our French index: