Which to use
“tender” and “tendue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,393
- “tender” frequency rank
- #10,957
- “tendue” frequency rank
- 60350
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tender | tendue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bateau annexe d'un paquebot, d'un yacht, destiné à transporter des bagages, du combustible ou de munitions, transborder des passagers, etc. | Action de tendre un filet, un piège. |
Where the eye mixes tender and tendue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tender (CVCCVC) and tendue (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: tender vs tendue
A purely visual mix-up. tender (\tɑ̃.dɛʁ\) and tendue (\tɑ̃.dy\) 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 60350, 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\. tendue is at rank #10,957, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃.dy\.
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 60350, this pair ranks #98,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tender vs tendue
Shared letters: dent. Private to "tender": r. Private to "tendue": u.
"tender" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tendue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tender" and "tendue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "tender" or "tendue" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tender" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tendue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,049 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tender" and "tendue" 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 #98,049 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.