Tenet is simply that which is held, and is applied to a single item of belief; it is a neutral word, neither approving nor condemning; we speak of the doctrines of our own church; of the tenets of others.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

belief She helped him in the belief that he was innocent.
principle My father made it a principle to keep early hours.
doctrine Tom has a doctrine of "not rocking the boat".
dogma His dogma forbids that he eats fish during Passover.
lodestar The old map marked Polaris as the traveler's lodestar.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
tenet		rising
belief		rising
principle		steady
doctrine		steady
dogma		steady
lodestar		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: law¹
5 letters: canon², creed¹, dogma²
6 letters: belief²
7 letters: opinion³, precept²
8 letters: position³, doctrine², lodestar²
9 letters: principle³
10 letters: persuasion³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (canon² = 2 syllables).