Which to use
“tender” and “tendon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,393
- “tender” frequency rank
- #26,892
- “tendon” frequency rank
- 76285
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tender | tendon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bateau annexe d'un paquebot, d'un yacht, destiné à transporter des bagages, du combustible ou de munitions, transborder des passagers, etc. | Partie fibreuse, blanchâtre, ronde ou aplatie, qui forme l’extrémité des muscles et qui sert à les attacher aux os ou à d’autres parties. |
Where the eye mixes tender and tendon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tender with tendon
A purely visual mix-up. tender (\tɑ̃.dɛʁ\) and tendon (\tɑ̃.dɔ̃\) 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 76285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tender is recorded at frequency rank #49,393, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃.dɛʁ\. tendon is at rank #26,892, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃.dɔ̃\.
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 76285, this pair ranks #31,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tender vs tendon
Shared letters: dent. Private to "tender": r. Private to "tendon": o.
"tender" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tendon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tender" and "tendon" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tender" or "tendon"?
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 "tender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tendon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,563 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tender" and "tendon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs ténue". 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 #31,563 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.