Which to use
“tempéré” is an adjective and “tempes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,050
- “tempéré” frequency rank
- #46,482
- “tempes” frequency rank
- 70532
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tempéré | tempes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui n’est ni trop chaud ni trop froid, ce qui ne présente ni excès de chaleur ni excès de froid. | Pluriel de tempe. |
Where the eye mixes tempéré and tempes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tempéré and tempes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tempéré is \tɑ̃.pe.ʁe\ while tempes is \tɑ̃p\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tempéré is recorded at frequency rank #24,050, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.pe.ʁe\. 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 70532, this pair ranks #50,971 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of tempéré vs tempes
Shared letters: empt. Private to "tempéré": ré. Private to "tempes": s.
"tempéré" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "tempes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tempes ← etmpes · temeps · temmpes · tempess · temppes · tempse · tepmes · tmepes
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tempéré" and "tempes" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "tempéré" or "tempes" 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 "tempéré" 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 #50,971 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tempéré" 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 #50,971 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.