tamisvsthaïsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tamis is a noun, thaïs is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tamis” is a noun and “thaïs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,577
“tamis” frequency rank
#42,083
“thaïs” frequency rank
79660
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tamis thaïs
Definition Sorte de crible, de sas qui sert à passer des matières pulvérulentes, les liquides troubles, etc. Masculin pluriel de thaï.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tamis and thaïs apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
tamis
5 ch
thaïs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tamis is \ta.mi\ while thaïs is \taj\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tamis is recorded at frequency rank #37,577, classified as anoun, pronounced \ta.mi\. thaïs is at rank #42,083, tagged as anadj, pronounced \taj\.

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 79660, this pair ranks #22,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tamis vs thaïs

Shared letters: ast. Private to "tamis": im. Private to "thaïs": .

"tamis" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "thaïs" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tamisatmis · taims · tamiss · tammis · tamsi · tmais · ttamis

Frequency comparison

tamis#37,577
thaïs#42,083

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tamis" and "thaïs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tamis" is a noun and "thaïs" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tamis" or "thaïs"?
"tamis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,577 in our French list, against #42,083 for "thaïs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tamis vs thaïs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “tamis”; for an adjective, it's “thaïs”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tamis” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list