Which to use
“tordre” and “tords” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,869
- “tordre” frequency rank
- #46,494
- “tords” frequency rank
- 67363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tordre | tords |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tourner un corps long et flexible par ses deux extrémités en sens contraire, ou par l’une des deux, l’autre étant fixe. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de tordre. |
Where the eye mixes tordre and tords
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tordre runs 6 letters (CVCCCV) against tords's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses tordre with tords
A purely visual mix-up. tordre (\tɔʁdʁ\) and tords (\tɔʁ\) 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 67363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tordre is recorded at frequency rank #20,869, classified as averb, pronounced \tɔʁdʁ\. tords is at rank #46,494, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɔʁ\.
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 67363, this pair ranks #63,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tordre vs tords
Shared letters: dort. Private to "tordre": e. Private to "tords": s.
"tordre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "tords" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tordre" and "tords" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tordre" or "tords"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tordre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tords" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tordre" and "tords" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tords vs tories". 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 #63,739 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.