Which to use
“tondre” and “tordre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,401
- “tondre” frequency rank
- #20,869
- “tordre” frequency rank
- 51270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tondre | tordre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Couper à ras la laine ou le poil des bêtes. | Tourner un corps long et flexible par ses deux extrémités en sens contraire, ou par l’une des deux, l’autre étant fixe. |
Where the eye mixes tondre and tordre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tondre and tordre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between tondre and tordre
A purely visual mix-up. tondre (\tɔ̃dʁ\) and tordre (\tɔʁdʁ\) 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 a single letter - n in “tondre” becomes r in “tordre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tondre is recorded at frequency rank #30,401, classified as averb, pronounced \tɔ̃dʁ\. tordre is at rank #20,869, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɔʁdʁ\.
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 51270, this pair ranks #156,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tondre vs tordre
Shared letters: deort. Private to "tondre": n. Private to "tordre": -.
"tondre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "tordre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tondre" for "tordre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "tondre" or "tordre"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tondre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tordre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tondre" and "tordre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tondre vs tone". 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 #156,299 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.