Which to use
“tempes” and “terres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,482
- “tempes” frequency rank
- #1,978
- “terres” frequency rank
- 48460
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tempes | terres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de tempe. | Pluriel de terre. |
Where the eye mixes tempes and terres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tempes and terres follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses tempes with terres
A purely visual mix-up. tempes (\tɑ̃p\) and terres (\tɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48460, 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\. terres is at rank #1,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛʁ\.
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 48460, this pair ranks #178,740 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tempes vs terres
Shared letters: est. Private to "tempes": mp. Private to "terres": r.
"tempes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "terres" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tempes" for "terres" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tempes" vs "terres" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
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 "terres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #178,740 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tempes" and "terres" 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 #178,740 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.