Which to use
“tease” is a verb and “tes” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,149
- “tease” frequency rank
- #297
- “tes” frequency rank
- 25446
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tease | tes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de teaser. | Pluriel de ton, ta. |
Where the eye mixes tease and tes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tease and tes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tease is \tiz\ while tes is \tɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25446, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tease is recorded at frequency rank #25,149, classified as averb, pronounced \tiz\. tes is at rank #297, tagged as adet, pronounced \tɛ\.
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 25446, this pair ranks #340,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tease vs tes
Shared letters: est. Private to "tease": a. Private to "tes": -.
"tease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "tes" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tease ← etase · taese · teaes · teasse · tesae · ttease
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tease" and "tes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "tease" vs "tes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,831 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tease" and "tes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teach vs tease". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #340,831 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.