tonduvstordusTell them apart

Which to use

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

#43,187
“tondu” frequency rank
#28,376
“tordus” frequency rank
71563
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tondu tordus
Definition Que l’on a tondu. Masculin pluriel de tordu.

Where the eye mixes tondu and tordus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tondu runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against tordus's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
tondu
6 ch
tordus

Visual trap between tondu and tordus

A purely visual mix-up. tondu (\tɔ̃.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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71563, 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\. 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 71563, this pair ranks #47,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tondu vs tordus

Shared letters: dotu. Private to "tondu": n. Private to "tordus": rs.

"tondu" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "tordus" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tonduotndu · tnodu · todnu · tonddu · tonndu · tonud · ttondu
  • tordusotrdus · todrus · torddus · tordsu · torduss · torrdus · toruds · trodus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tondu" and "tordus" be used interchangeably?
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 "tordus"?
"tordus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,376 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.

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 "tondu" 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 #47,115 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tondu" and "tordus" 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 #47,115 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