tentative

\tɑ̃.ta.tiv\

/\tɑ̃.ta.tiv\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“tentative” has 13 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #2,696. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,696
frequency rank, French
3,703
“T” headwords
13
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Action par laquelle on tente, on essaie de faire réussir quelque chose.

Corpus desk

Index FR-tentative · tentative · French

tentative · rank #2,696 · 13 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,696
  • LEN-LONG 9 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 13 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,703
  • PHOTO-FINISH solide

Nearest frequency peer: solide (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « tentative »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « tentative » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

tentative vs tentatives
90% similar
tentative vs tentation
78% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for tentative
PropertyValue
Headwordtentative
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\tɑ̃.ta.tiv\
Letters9
Frequency rank#2,696
Misspellings tracked13
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « tentative »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.tentativese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « solide » (#2,695), « vallée » (#2,697), « réelle » (#2,694). Parmi 3,703 lemmes en « T », « tentative » est au #2,696. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 13 spelling variants around tentative (IPA \tɑ̃.ta.tiv\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,696 among 3,703 “T” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for tentative, with forms such as "etntative", "tenattive", and "tenntative". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "tentatives", "tentation", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is tentative, spelled T-E-N-T-A-T-I-V-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Action par laquelle on tente, on essaie de faire réussir quelque chose.
  2. 2
    Examen, thèse que soutenait celui qui voulait être reçu licencié en théologie.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how tentative appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. L’Exposition de 1900 était une occasion toute indiquée pour reprendre les tentatives d’unification faites précédemment.
  2. J’ai si souvent fait buisson creux, dans mes tentatives précédentes, que je n’ose plus me présenter au guichet de la gare. À quoi bon ?

Synonyms

essai

This word in other languages

attempt(English)intento(Español)Versuch(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • etntative
  • tenattive
  • tenntative
  • tentaitve
  • tentatiev
  • tentativve
  • tentattive
  • tentatvie
  • tenttaive
  • tenttative
  • tetnative
  • tnetative
  • ttentative

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tentative - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

etntative2tenattive2tenntative1tentaitve2tentatiev2tentativve1tentattive1tentatvie2
Edit distance from "tentative"

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

How do you spell "tentative"?
"tentative" is spelled T-E-N-T-A-T-I-V-E. The IPA pronunciation is \tɑ̃.ta.tiv\.
What does "tentative" mean?
As a noun, "tentative" means: Action par laquelle on tente, on essaie de faire réussir quelque chose.
What words are commonly confused with "tentative"?
"tentative" is commonly confused with "tentatives", "tentation". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "tentative"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "tentative" is \tɑ̃.ta.tiv\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "tentative" come from?
"tentative" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "tentative", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

émissions#2,699appliquer#2,702organiser#2,728transfert#2,649

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).

efficacité13 variantsconnaissent13 variantsviolences13 variantséchanges13 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list