Which to use
“temple” and “temples” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,045
- “temple” frequency rank
- #10,597
- “temples” frequency rank
- 13642
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | temple | temples |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Édifice public consacré au culte de la divinité. | Pluriel de temple. |
Same sound, different letters: temple vs temples
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - temple / temples
This is the hard kind. temple and temples are pronounced identically (\tɑ̃pl\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “temple” sits inside “temples”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
temple is recorded at frequency rank #3,045, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃pl\. temples is at rank #10,597, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃pl\.
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 13642, this pair ranks #400,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of temple vs temples
Shared letters: elmpt. Private to "temple": -. Private to "temples": s.
"temple" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "temples" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "temple" for "temples" ever safe?
Frequency check: "temple" vs "temples" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "temple" / "temples". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "temple" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "temples" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #400,164 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "temple" and "temples" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tempes vs temples". 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 #400,164 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.