tem
\tɐ̃j\
The verdict
“tem” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #46,481 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #46,481
- frequency rank, French
- 3
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de ter.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | tem |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \tɐ̃j\ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #46,481 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tem” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for tem is 3 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \tɐ̃j\. Corpus data places it at rank #46,481 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
No misspelling variants are generated for tem in our index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable French rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "tu", "TV", "Tl", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is tem, spelled T-E-M.
Definition
- 1Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de ter.
- 2Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’impératif affirmatif de ter.
- 3Deuxième personne du singulier de l’impératif de ter.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "tem"?
What does "tem" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "tem"?
How do you pronounce "tem"?
What language does "tem" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “tem”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is T-E-M - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \tɐ̃j\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “tu” - see the side-by-side comparison. tem vs tu
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.