Which to use
“tapez” and “tâter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,696
- “tapez” frequency rank
- #36,196
- “tâter” frequency rank
- 55892
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tapez | tâter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de taper. | Toucher, manier doucement une chose, pour connaître son état. |
Where the eye mixes tapez and tâter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tapez and tâter follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: tapez vs tâter
A purely visual mix-up. tapez (\ta.pe\) and tâter (\tɑ.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tapez is recorded at frequency rank #19,696, classified as averb, pronounced \ta.pe\. tâter is at rank #36,196, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɑ.te\.
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 55892, this pair ranks #124,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tapez vs tâter
Shared letters: et. Private to "tapez": apz. Private to "tâter": râ.
"tapez" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "tâter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tapez ← atpez · taepz · tapezz · tappez · tapze · tpaez · ttapez
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tapez" and "tâter" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tapez" vs "tâter" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tapez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tâter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #124,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tapez" and "tâter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tâter vs titrer". 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 #124,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.