tempesvstentésConfusable pair

Quick tell: tempes is a noun, tentés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#46,482
“tempes” frequency rank
#17,837
“tentés” frequency rank
64319
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tempes tentés
Definition Pluriel de tempe. Masculin pluriel de tenté.

Where the eye mixes tempes and tentés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. tempes and tentés follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
tempes
6 ch
tentés

Why the eye confuses tempes with tentés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tempes is \tɑ̃p\ while tentés is \tɑ̃.te\. 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 64319, 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\. tentés is at rank #17,837, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.te\.

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 64319, this pair ranks #77,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tempes vs tentés

Shared letters: est. Private to "tempes": mp. Private to "tentés": né.

"tempes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tentés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tempes" for "tentés" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tempes" is a noun and "tentés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "tempes" vs "tentés" - which ranks higher?
"tentés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,837 in our French list, against #46,482 for "tempes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tempes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tentés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,637 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tempes" and "tentés" 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 #77,637 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