Which to use
“tends” and “tords” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,000
- “tends” frequency rank
- #46,494
- “tords” frequency rank
- 76494
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tends | tords |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de tendre. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de tordre. |
Where the eye mixes tends and tords
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tends and tords follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tends with tords
A purely visual mix-up. tends (\tɑ̃\) and tords (\tɔʁ\) 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 76494, 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\. tords is at rank #46,494, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɔʁ\.
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 76494, this pair ranks #30,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tends vs tords
Shared letters: dst. Private to "tends": en. Private to "tords": or.
"tends" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "tords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tends" and "tords" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tends" vs "tords" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tends" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tords" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,981 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tends" and "tords" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tords vs tories". 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 #30,981 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.