Which to use
“tempe” is a noun and “tombé” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,706
- “tempe” frequency rank
- #2,342
- “tombé” frequency rank
- 26048
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tempe | tombé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie latérale de la tête entre l’oreille et le front. | Déchu, qui n’a plus beaucoup de succès. |
Where the eye mixes tempe and tombé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses tempe with tombé
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tempe is \tɑ̃p\ while tombé is \tɔ̃.be\. 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 26048, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tempe is recorded at frequency rank #23,706, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃p\. tombé is at rank #2,342, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɔ̃.be\.
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 26048, this pair ranks #337,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tempe vs tombé
Shared letters: mt. Private to "tempe": ep. Private to "tombé": boé.
"tempe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tombé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tempe ← etmpe · temep · temmpe · temppe · tepme · tmepe · ttempe
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tempe" and "tombé" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "tempe" or "tombé" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tempe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tombé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #337,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tempe" and "tombé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tempe vs ténue". 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 #337,417 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.