tempêtevstrempéeWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#3,968
“tempête” frequency rank
#29,177
“trempée” frequency rank
33145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tempête trempée
Definition Tourmente atmosphérique, violente agitation de l’air, souvent accompagnée de pluie, de neige, de grêle, d’éclairs, de tonnerre, etc. Tradition de mariage consistant à réveiller les mariés au lendemain de la nuit de noces en leur apportant une mixture et en organisant un charivari.

Where the eye mixes tempête and trempée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tempête (CVCCVCV) and trempée (CCVCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
tempête
7 ch
trempée

Why the eye confuses tempête with trempée

A purely visual mix-up. tempête (\tɑ̃.pɛt\) and trempée (\tʁɑ̃.pe\) 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 5 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tempête is recorded at frequency rank #3,968, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃.pɛt\. trempée is at rank #29,177, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁɑ̃.pe\.

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 33145, this pair ranks #292,580 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tempête vs trempée

Shared letters: empt. Private to "tempête": ê. Private to "trempée": ré.

"tempête" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "trempée" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "tempête" and "trempée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃.pɛt\ versus \tʁɑ̃.pe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "tempête" or "trempée" show up more?
"tempête" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,968 in our French list, against #29,177 for "trempée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "tempête" and "trempée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tempête" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "trempée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #292,580 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tempête" and "trempée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tempes vs trempée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #292,580 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