tendusvstordusWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,293
“tendus” frequency rank
#28,376
“tordus” frequency rank
48669
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tendus tordus
Definition Masculin pluriel de tendu. Masculin pluriel de tordu.

Where the eye mixes tendus and tordus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tendus and tordus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tendus
6 ch
tordus

Look-alike desk: tendus vs tordus

A purely visual mix-up. tendus (\tɑ̃.dy\) and tordus (\tɔʁ.dy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48669, 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\. tordus is at rank #28,376, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɔʁ.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 48669, this pair ranks #176,974 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tendus vs tordus

Shared letters: dstu. Private to "tendus": en. Private to "tordus": or.

"tendus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tordus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tendusetndus · tednus · tenddus · tendsu · tenduss · tenndus · tenuds · tnedus
  • tordusotrdus · todrus · torddus · tordsu · torduss · torrdus · toruds · trodus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tendus" and "tordus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃.dy\ versus \tɔʁ.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tendus" vs "tordus" - which ranks higher?
"tendus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,293 in our French list, against #28,376 for "tordus". 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 "tendus" and "tordus" 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 "tordus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #176,974 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tendus" and "tordus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tordus vs tories". 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 #176,974 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