Which to use
“tendu” is an adjective and “teneur” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #6,247
- “tendu” frequency rank
- #9,084
- “teneur” frequency rank
- 15331
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendu | teneur |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui subit une tension (arc, élastique, ressort, etc.). | Ce qui est contenu mot à mot dans un écrit, son texte littéral. |
Where the eye mixes tendu and teneur
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tendu vs teneur
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tendu is \tɑ̃.dy\ while teneur is \tə.nœʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15331, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tendu is recorded at frequency rank #6,247, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.dy\. teneur is at rank #9,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tə.nœʁ\.
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 15331, this pair ranks #392,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tendu vs teneur
Shared letters: entu. Private to "tendu": d. Private to "teneur": r.
"tendu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "teneur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tendu" and "teneur" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tendu" vs "teneur" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tendu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "teneur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #392,819 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendu" and "teneur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs teneur". 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 #392,819 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.