tempsvstestsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: temps is a verb, tests is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“temps” is a verb and “tests” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,813
“temps” frequency rank
#3,854
“tests” frequency rank
41667
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature temps tests
Definition 3. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs temp Plural des Substantivs test

Letter map: temps vs tests

Shared letters muted; letters that set temps and tests apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
temps
5 ch
tests

Part-of-speech tell for temps / tests

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: temps is averb and testsanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41667, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

temps is recorded at frequency rank #37,813, classified as averb, pronounced […]. tests is at rank #3,854, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 41667, this pair ranks #1,472,607 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of temps vs tests

Shared letters: est. Private to "temps": mp. Private to "tests": -.

"temps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC  ·  "tests" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tempsetmps · temmps · tempps · tempss · temsp · tepms · tmeps · ttemps
  • testsetsts · tessts · testss · testts · tetss · ttests

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "temps" for "tests" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "temps" is a verb and "tests" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "temps" vs "tests" - which ranks higher?
"tests" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,854 in our German list, against #37,813 for "temps". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "temps" and "tests". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "temps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tests" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,472,607 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "temps" and "tests" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "puzzles vs temps". 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 #1,472,607 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list