tendresvstendusConfusable pair

Which to use

“tendres” and “tendus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,247
“tendres” frequency rank
#20,293
“tendus” frequency rank
36540
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendres tendus
Definition Pluriel de tendre. Masculin pluriel de tendu.

Where the eye mixes tendres and tendus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tendres runs 7 letters (CVCCCVC) against tendus's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
tendres
6 ch
tendus

Why the eye confuses tendres with tendus

A purely visual mix-up. tendres (\tɑ̃dʁ\) and tendus (\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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36540, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tendres is recorded at frequency rank #16,247, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃dʁ\. 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 36540, this pair ranks #268,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tendres vs tendus

Shared letters: denst. Private to "tendres": r. Private to "tendus": u.

"tendres" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "tendus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tendresetndres · tednres · tenddres · tenders · tendress · tendrres · tendrse · tenndres
  • tendusetndus · tednus · tenddus · tendsu · tenduss · tenndus · tenuds · tnedus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tendres" and "tendus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃dʁ\ versus \tɑ̃.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tendres" or "tendus"?
"tendres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,247 in our French list, against #20,293 for "tendus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "tendres" and "tendus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tendres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tendus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #268,904 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tendres" and "tendus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs tendus". 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 #268,904 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list