tendusvstonduWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,293
“tendus” frequency rank
#43,187
“tondu” frequency rank
63480
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendus tondu
Definition Masculin pluriel de tendu. Que l’on a tondu.

Where the eye mixes tendus and tondu

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tendus runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tondu's 5 (CVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tendus
5 ch
tondu

Look-alike desk: tendus vs tondu

A purely visual mix-up. tendus (\tɑ̃.dy\) and tondu (\tɔ̃.dy\) 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 63480, 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\. tondu is at rank #43,187, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɔ̃.dy\.

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 63480, this pair ranks #81,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tendus vs tondu

Shared letters: dntu. Private to "tendus": es. Private to "tondu": o.

"tendus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tondu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tendusetndus · tednus · tenddus · tendsu · tenduss · tenndus · tenuds · tnedus
  • tonduotndu · tnodu · todnu · tonddu · tonndu · tonud · ttondu

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tendus" for "tondu" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃.dy\ versus \tɔ̃.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tendus" vs "tondu" - which ranks higher?
"tendus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,293 in our French list, against #43,187 for "tondu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tendus" and "tondu" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tendus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tondu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tendus" and "tondu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "todo vs tondu". 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 #81,748 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