Which to use
“tem” is a verb and “tus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,481
- “tem” frequency rank
- #40,544
- “tus” frequency rank
- 87025
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tem | tus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de ter. | Masculin pluriel de tu. |
Where the eye mixes tem and tus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. tem and tus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: tem vs tus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tem is \tɐ̃j\ while tus is \ty\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tem is recorded at frequency rank #46,481, classified as averb, pronounced \tɐ̃j\. tus is at rank #40,544, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ty\.
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 87025, this pair ranks #8,869 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tem vs tus
Shared letters: t. Private to "tem": em. Private to "tus": su.
"tem" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "tus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tem" and "tus" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "tem" or "tus" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,869 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tem" and "tus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tem vs tif". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #8,869 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.