Which to use
“tenais” and “tends” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,875
- “tenais” frequency rank
- #30,000
- “tends” frequency rank
- 42875
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tenais | tends |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de tenir. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de tendre. |
Where the eye mixes tenais and tends
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tenais runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against tends's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tenais with tends
A purely visual mix-up. tenais (\tə.nɛ\) and tends (\tɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42875, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tenais is recorded at frequency rank #12,875, classified as averb, pronounced \tə.nɛ\. tends is at rank #30,000, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɑ̃\.
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 42875, this pair ranks #222,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tenais vs tends
Shared letters: enst. Private to "tenais": ai. Private to "tends": d.
"tenais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "tends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tenais" and "tends" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tenais" vs "tends" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tenais" and "tends" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tenais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #222,240 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tenais" and "tends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs tends". 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 #222,240 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.