Which to use
“tenues” and “tonus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,564
- “tenues” frequency rank
- #35,755
- “tonus” frequency rank
- 42319
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tenues | tonus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tenue. | Tension, contraction légère et permanente, tenue des muscles. |
Where the eye mixes tenues and tonus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tenues runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against tonus's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: tenues vs tonus
A purely visual mix-up. tenues (\tə.ny\) and tonus (\tɔ.nys\) 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 42319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tenues is recorded at frequency rank #6,564, classified as anoun, pronounced \tə.ny\. tonus is at rank #35,755, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.nys\.
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 42319, this pair ranks #226,512 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tenues vs tonus
Shared letters: nstu. Private to "tenues": e. Private to "tonus": o.
"tenues" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "tonus" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tenues" for "tonus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tenues" vs "tonus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "tenues" and "tonus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tenues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tonus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #226,512 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tenues" and "tonus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tonus vs trônes". 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 #226,512 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.