tayvstmaTell them apart

Which to use

“tay” and “tma” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,907
“tay” frequency rank
#48,830
“tma” frequency rank
94737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tay tma
Definition Thaïlandais (habitant de la Thaïlande). Obscurité, ténèbres.

Where the eye mixes tay and tma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. tay (CVV) and tma (CCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
tay
3 ch
tma

Look-alike desk: tay vs tma

A purely visual mix-up. tay (\tɑj\) and tma (\tma\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 94737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tay is recorded at frequency rank #45,907, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑj\. tma is at rank #48,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tma\.

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 94737, this pair ranks #1,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tay vs tma

Shared letters: at. Private to "tay": y. Private to "tma": m.

"tay" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "tma" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tay" for "tma" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tɑj\ versus \tma\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "tay" or "tma"?
"tay" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,907 in our French list, against #48,830 for "tma". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tay" and "tma" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tay" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,454 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tay" and "tma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tma". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,454 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list