Which to use
“tordre” is a verb and “tordue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,869
- “tordre” frequency rank
- #30,402
- “tordue” frequency rank
- 51271
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tordre | tordue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tourner un corps long et flexible par ses deux extrémités en sens contraire, ou par l’une des deux, l’autre étant fixe. | Féminin singulier de tordu. |
Where the eye mixes tordre and tordue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tordre (CVCCCV) and tordue (CVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between tordre and tordue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tordre is \tɔʁdʁ\ while tordue is \tɔʁ.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “tordre” becomes u in “tordue”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51271, 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\. tordue is at rank #30,402, 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 51271, this pair ranks #156,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tordre vs tordue
Shared letters: deort. Private to "tordre": -. Private to "tordue": u.
"tordre" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "tordue" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tordre" for "tordue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tordre" vs "tordue" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "tordre" and "tordue" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tordre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tordue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #156,291 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tordre" and "tordue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tords vs tordue". 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 #156,291 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.