Which to use
“tends” is a verb and “tennis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,000
- “tends” frequency rank
- #3,969
- “tennis” frequency rank
- 33969
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tends | tennis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de tendre. | Sorte de jeu de balle qui se joue avec des raquettes sur un terrain divisé en deux par un filet. |
Where the eye mixes tends and tennis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tends runs 5 letters (CVCCC) against tennis's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tends and tennis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tends is \tɑ̃\ while tennis is \tɛ.nis\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tends is recorded at frequency rank #30,000, classified as averb, pronounced \tɑ̃\. tennis is at rank #3,969, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.nis\.
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 33969, this pair ranks #287,033 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tends vs tennis
Shared letters: enst. Private to "tends": d. Private to "tennis": i.
"tends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "tennis" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tends" and "tennis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "tends" vs "tennis" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tends" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tennis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,033 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tends" and "tennis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs tends". 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 #287,033 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.