tenduesvstentésWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#20,004
“tendues” frequency rank
#17,837
“tentés” frequency rank
37841
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendues tentés
Definition Féminin pluriel de tendu. Masculin pluriel de tenté.

Where the eye mixes tendues and tentés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tendues runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against tentés's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
tendues
6 ch
tentés

Look-alike desk: tendues vs tentés

A purely visual mix-up. tendues (\tɑ̃.dy\) and tentés (\tɑ̃.te\) 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 37841, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tendues is recorded at frequency rank #20,004, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.dy\. tentés is at rank #17,837, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.te\.

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 37841, this pair ranks #259,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tendues vs tentés

Shared letters: enst. Private to "tendues": du. Private to "tentés": é.

"tendues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "tentés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tenduesetndues · tednues · tenddues · tendeus · tenduess · tenduse · tenndues · tenudes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tendues" for "tentés" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃.dy\ versus \tɑ̃.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tendues" vs "tentés" - which ranks higher?
"tentés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,837 in our French list, against #20,004 for "tendues". 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 "tendues" and "tentés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tendues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tentés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #259,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tendues" and "tentés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs tendues". 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 #259,593 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