tentésvstentonsTell them apart

Quick tell: tentés is a adjective, tentons is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tentés” is an adjective and “tentons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,837
“tentés” frequency rank
#32,213
“tentons” frequency rank
50050
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tentés tentons
Definition Masculin pluriel de tenté. Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de tenter.

Where the eye mixes tentés and tentons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tentés runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against tentons's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
tentés
7 ch
tentons

Visual trap between tentés and tentons

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tentés is \tɑ̃.te\ while tentons is \tɑ̃.tɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50050, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tentés is recorded at frequency rank #17,837, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.te\. tentons is at rank #32,213, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɑ̃.tɔ̃\.

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 50050, this pair ranks #165,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tentés vs tentons

Shared letters: enst. Private to "tentés": é. Private to "tentons": o.

"tentés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tentons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tentonsetntons · tenntons · tenotns · tentnos · tentonns · tentonss · tentosn · tenttons

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tentés" and "tentons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tentés" is an adjective and "tentons" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tentés" or "tentons"?
"tentés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,837 in our French list, against #32,213 for "tentons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tentés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tentons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #165,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tentés" and "tentons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tentons vs Trenton". 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 #165,682 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