détenduvsdétendusTell them apart

Which to use

“détendu” and “détendus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,527
“détendu” frequency rank
#49,621
“détendus” frequency rank
69148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature détendu détendus
Definition Lâche, non tendu. Masculin pluriel de détendu.

Same sound, different letters: détendu vs détendus

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. détendu runs 7 letters (CVCVCCV) against détendus's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
détendu
8 ch
détendus

Ear matches; page differs - détendu and détendus

This is the hard kind. détendu and détendus are pronounced identically (\de.tɑ̃.dy\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “détendu” sits inside “détendus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

détendu is recorded at frequency rank #19,527, classified as anadj, pronounced \de.tɑ̃.dy\. détendus is at rank #49,621, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.tɑ̃.dy\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 69148, this pair ranks #56,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of détendu vs détendus

Shared letters: dentué. Private to "détendu": -. Private to "détendus": s.

"détendu" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "détendus" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "détendu" and "détendus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\de.tɑ̃.dy\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "détendu" or "détendus"?
"détendu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,527 in our French list, against #49,621 for "détendus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"détendu" and "détendus" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "détendu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "détendus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "détendu" and "détendus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "détends vs détendus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #56,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list