tonduvstorduTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,187
“tondu” frequency rank
#17,294
“tordu” frequency rank
60481
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tondu tordu
Definition Que l’on a tondu. Qui a subi une torsion.

Where the eye mixes tondu and tordu

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

5 ch
tondu
5 ch
tordu

Visual trap between tondu and tordu

A purely visual mix-up. tondu (\tɔ̃.dy\) and tordu (\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 differ by a single letter - n in “tondu” becomes r in “tordu”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tondu is recorded at frequency rank #43,187, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɔ̃.dy\. tordu is at rank #17,294, 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 60481, this pair ranks #97,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tondu vs tordu

Shared letters: dotu. Private to "tondu": n. Private to "tordu": r.

"tondu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tordu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tonduotndu · tnodu · todnu · tonddu · tonndu · tonud · ttondu
  • torduotrdu · todru · torddu · torrdu · torud · trodu · ttordu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tondu" and "tordu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tɔ̃.dy\ versus \tɔʁ.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tondu" or "tordu"?
"tordu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,294 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.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "tondu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tordu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #97,358 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tondu" and "tordu" 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 #97,358 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