tempes vs tempête, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“tempes” and “tempête” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,482
“tempes” frequency rank: #3,968
“tempête” frequency rank: 50450
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	tempes	tempête
Definition	Pluriel de tempe.	Tourmente atmosphérique, violente agitation de l’air, souvent accompagnée de pluie, de neige, de grêle, d’éclairs, de tonnerre, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tempes and tempête apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

tempes

7 ch

tempête

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. tempes (\tɑ̃p\) and tempête (\tɑ̃.pɛt\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50450, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tempes is recorded at frequency rank #46,482, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃p\. tempête is at rank #3,968, 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 50450, this pair ranks #162,528 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tempes vs tempête

Shared letters: empt. Private to "tempes": s. Private to "tempête": ê.

"tempes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "tempête" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

tempes ← etmpes · temeps · temmpes · tempess · temppes · tempse · tepmes · tmepes

Frequency comparison

tempes#46,482

tempête#3,968

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tempes" and "tempête" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃p\ versus \tɑ̃.pɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "tempes" or "tempête"?

"tempête" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,968 in our French list, against #46,482 for "tempes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering tempes vs tempête

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tempes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable