templesvstempsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,597
“temples” frequency rank
#89
“temps” frequency rank
10686
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature temples temps
Definition Pluriel de temple. Durée des choses, marquée par certaines périodes, et principalement par la révolution apparente du soleil ; écart entre le déroulement de deux événements.

Where the eye mixes temples and temps

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
temples
5 ch
temps

Visual trap between temples and temps

A purely visual mix-up. temples (\tɑ̃pl\) and temps (\tɑ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10686, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

temples is recorded at frequency rank #10,597, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃pl\. temps is at rank #89, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃\.

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 10686, this pair ranks #412,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of temples vs temps

Shared letters: empst. Private to "temples": l. Private to "temps": -.

"temples" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC  ·  "temps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • templesetmples · temlpes · temmples · tempels · templess · templles · templse · tempples
  • tempsetmps · temmps · tempps · tempss · temsp · tepms · tmeps · ttemps

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "temples" for "temps" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\tɑ̃pl\ versus \tɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "temples" or "temps"?
"temps" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #89 in our French list, against #10,597 for "temples". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "temples" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "temps" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #412,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "temples" and "temps" 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 #412,026 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