tendervstendusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tender is a noun, tendus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tender” is a noun and “tendus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,393
“tender” frequency rank
#20,293
“tendus” frequency rank
69686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tender tendus
Definition Bateau annexe d'un paquebot, d'un yacht, destiné à transporter des bagages, du combustible ou de munitions, transborder des passagers, etc. Masculin pluriel de tendu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tender and tendus apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tender
6 ch
tendus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tender is \tɑ̃.dɛʁ\ while tendus is \tɑ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69686, 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\. tendus is at rank #20,293, tagged as anadj, 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 69686, this pair ranks #54,227 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tender vs tendus

Shared letters: dent. Private to "tender": r. Private to "tendus": su.

"tender" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tendus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenderetnder · tedner · tendder · tenderr · tenedr · tennder · tneder · ttender
  • tendusetndus · tednus · tenddus · tendsu · tenduss · tenndus · tenuds · tnedus

Frequency comparison

tender#49,393
tendus#20,293

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tender" and "tendus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tender" is a noun and "tendus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tender" or "tendus"?
"tendus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,293 in our French list, against #49,393 for "tender". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tender vs tendus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tender”; for an adjective, it's “tendus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tender” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list