Which to use
“tendues” and “ténue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,004
- “tendues” frequency rank
- #48,245
- “ténue” frequency rank
- 68249
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendues | ténue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de tendu. | Féminin singulier de ténu. |
Where the eye mixes tendues and ténue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tendues runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against ténue's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between tendues and ténue
A purely visual mix-up. tendues (\tɑ̃.dy\) and ténue (\te.ny\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68249, 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\. ténue is at rank #48,245, tagged as anadj, pronounced \te.ny\.
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 68249, this pair ranks #59,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tendues vs ténue
Shared letters: entu. Private to "tendues": ds. Private to "ténue": é.
"tendues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "ténue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tendues ← etndues · tednues · tenddues · tendeus · tenduess · tenduse · tenndues · tenudes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tendues" and "ténue" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "tendues" or "ténue" show up more?
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 "tendues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ténue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,916 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendues" and "ténue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tender vs ténue". 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 #59,916 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.