temporelvstemporellesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,267
“temporel” frequency rank
#29,999
“temporelles” frequency rank
45266
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature temporel temporelles
Definition Relatif au temps. Féminin pluriel de temporel.

Same sound, different letters: temporel vs temporelles

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. temporel runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against temporelles's 11 (CVCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
temporel
11 ch
temporelles

Homophone desk: temporel vs temporelles

This is the hard kind. temporel and temporelles are pronounced identically (\tɑ̃.pɔ.ʁɛl\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 3 extra letter(s) - “temporel” sits inside “temporelles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45266, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

temporel is recorded at frequency rank #15,267, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.pɔ.ʁɛl\. temporelles is at rank #29,999, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɑ̃.pɔ.ʁɛl\.

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 45266, this pair ranks #204,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of temporel vs temporelles

Shared letters: elmoprt. Private to "temporel": -. Private to "temporelles": s.

"temporel" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "temporelles" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • temporel ← etmporel · temmporel · temoprel · tempoerl · temporell · temporle · temporrel · tempporel
  • temporelles ← etmporelles · temmporelles · temoprelles · tempoerlles · temporelels · temporeles · temporelless · temporellse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "temporel" and "temporelles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\tɑ̃.pɔ.ʁɛl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "temporel" or "temporelles" show up more?
"temporel" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,267 in our French list, against #29,999 for "temporelles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "temporel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "temporelles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #204,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "temporel" and "temporelles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "temporelles vs temporels". 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 #204,094 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