Which to use
“tendus” and “ténue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,293
- “tendus” frequency rank
- #48,245
- “ténue” frequency rank
- 68538
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tendus | ténue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de tendu. | Féminin singulier de ténu. |
Where the eye mixes tendus and ténue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tendus runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against ténue's 5 (CVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tendus vs ténue
A purely visual mix-up. tendus (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68538, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tendus is recorded at frequency rank #20,293, 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 68538, this pair ranks #58,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tendus vs ténue
Shared letters: entu. Private to "tendus": ds. Private to "ténue": é.
"tendus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "ténue" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tendus ← etndus · tednus · tenddus · tendsu · tenduss · tenndus · tenuds · tnedus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tendus" for "ténue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tendus" vs "ténue" - 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 "tendus" 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 #58,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tendus" 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 #58,764 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.