tempérévstempêtesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tempéré is a adjective, tempêtes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tempéré” is an adjective and “tempêtes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#24,050
“tempéré” frequency rank
#13,276
“tempêtes” frequency rank
37326
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tempéré tempêtes
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 tempête.

Where the eye mixes tempéré and tempêtes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tempéré runs 7 letters (CVCCVCV) against tempêtes's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
tempéré
8 ch
tempêtes

Look-alike desk: tempéré vs tempêtes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tempéré is \tɑ̃.pe.ʁe\ while tempêtes is \tɑ̃.pɛt\. 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 37326, 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\. tempêtes is at rank #13,276, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃.pɛt\.

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 37326, this pair ranks #263,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tempéré vs tempêtes

Shared letters: empt. Private to "tempéré": ré. Private to "tempêtes": sê.

"tempéré" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "tempêtes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tempéré" for "tempêtes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tempéré" is an adjective and "tempêtes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tempéré" vs "tempêtes" - which ranks higher?
"tempêtes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,276 in our French list, against #24,050 for "tempéré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "tempêtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #263,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tempéré" and "tempêtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tempéré vs tempes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #263,212 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