Which to use
“temps” and “thèmes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #89
- “temps” frequency rank
- #4,103
- “thèmes” frequency rank
- 4192
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | temps | thèmes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Durée des choses, marquée par certaines périodes, et principalement par la révolution apparente du soleil ; écart entre le déroulement de deux événements. | Pluriel de thème. |
Where the eye mixes temps and thèmes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between temps and thèmes
A purely visual mix-up. temps (\tɑ̃\) and thèmes (\tɛm\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
temps is recorded at frequency rank #89, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃\. thèmes is at rank #4,103, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛm\.
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 4192, this pair ranks #432,225 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of temps vs thèmes
Shared letters: emst. Private to "temps": p. Private to "thèmes": hè.
"temps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "thèmes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- temps ← etmps · temmps · tempps · tempss · temsp · tepms · tmeps · ttemps
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "temps" for "thèmes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "temps" vs "thèmes" - 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 "temps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "thèmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #432,225 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "temps" and "thèmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "thèmes vs thermos". 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 #432,225 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.