tenez
\tə.ne\
The verdict
“tenez” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #8,473 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #8,473
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de tenir.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tenez |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \tə.ne\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #8,473 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tenez” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tenez is 5 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tə.ne\. Corpus data places it at rank #8,473 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for tenez, with forms such as "etnez", "teenz", and "tenezz". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tête", "tenu", "tuez", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is tenez, spelled T-E-N-E-Z.
Definition
- 1Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de tenir.
- 2Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’impératif de tenir.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: etnez,teenz,tenezz,tennez,tenze,tneez,ttenez
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tenez - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “tenez”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-E-N-E-Z - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tə.ne\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tête” - see the side-by-side comparison. tenez vs tête
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.