Which to use
“temp” and “tempes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,891
- “temp” frequency rank
- #46,482
- “tempes” frequency rank
- 73373
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | temp | tempes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Intérimaire (suppléant, employé embauché pour une courte durée). | Pluriel de tempe. |
Where the eye mixes temp and tempes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. temp runs 4 letters (CVCC) against tempes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses temp with tempes
A purely visual mix-up. temp (\tɛmp\) and tempes (\tɑ̃p\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “temp” sits inside “tempes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
temp is recorded at frequency rank #26,891, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛmp\. tempes is at rank #46,482, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃p\.
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 73373, this pair ranks #40,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of temp vs tempes
Shared letters: empt. Private to "temp": -. Private to "tempes": s.
"temp" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "tempes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "temp" and "tempes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "temp" or "tempes" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "temp" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tempes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #40,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "temp" and "tempes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tempes vs trempés". 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 #40,697 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.