Which to use
“tendait” and “tendent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,093
- “tendait” frequency rank
- #11,313
- “tendent” frequency rank
- 48406
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendait | tendent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de tendre. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de tendre. |
Where the eye mixes tendait and tendent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tendait (CVCCVVC) and tendent (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: tendait vs tendent
A purely visual mix-up. tendait (\tɑ̃.dɛ\) and tendent (\tɑ̃d\) 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 48406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tendait is recorded at frequency rank #37,093, classified as averb, pronounced \tɑ̃.dɛ\. tendent is at rank #11,313, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɑ̃d\.
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 48406, this pair ranks #179,196 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tendait vs tendent
Shared letters: dent. Private to "tendait": ai. Private to "tendent": -.
"tendait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "tendent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tendait" and "tendent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tendait" or "tendent"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tendait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tendent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,196 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendait" and "tendent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tendait vs tentais". 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 #179,196 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.