Which to use
“tease” and “testé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,149
- “tease” frequency rank
- #5,821
- “testé” frequency rank
- 30970
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tease | testé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de teaser. | Participe passé masculin singulier de tester. |
Where the eye mixes tease and testé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tease and testé
A purely visual mix-up. tease (\tiz\) and testé (\tɛs.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30970, 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\. testé is at rank #5,821, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɛs.te\.
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 30970, this pair ranks #306,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tease vs testé
Shared letters: est. Private to "tease": a. Private to "testé": é.
"tease" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "testé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tease ← etase · taese · teaes · teasse · tesae · ttease
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tease" for "testé" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tease" or "testé" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tease" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "testé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #306,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tease" and "testé" 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 #306,837 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.