Which to use
“tend” and “tone” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,709
- “tend” frequency rank
- #44,780
- “tone” frequency rank
- 50489
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tend | tone |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de tendre. | Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif présent de tonen. |
Where the eye mixes tend and tone
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tend with tone
A purely visual mix-up. tend (\tɑ̃\) and tone (\ˈtoːnə\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tend is recorded at frequency rank #5,709, classified as averb, pronounced \tɑ̃\. tone is at rank #44,780, tagged as averb, pronounced \ˈtoːnə\.
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 50489, this pair ranks #162,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tend vs tone
Shared letters: ent. Private to "tend": d. Private to "tone": o.
"tend" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tone" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tend" and "tone" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "tend" or "tone" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tend" and "tone" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tone" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #162,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tend" and "tone" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tone vs tun". 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 #162,221 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.