Which to use
“temps” and “tips” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #89
- “temps” frequency rank
- #39,576
- “tips” frequency rank
- 39665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | temps | tips |
|---|---|---|
| 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 tip. |
Where the eye mixes temps and tips
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses temps with tips
A purely visual mix-up. temps (\tɑ̃\) and tips (\tip\) 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 39665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
temps is recorded at frequency rank #89, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɑ̃\. tips is at rank #39,576, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tip\.
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 39665, this pair ranks #246,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of temps vs tips
Shared letters: pst. Private to "temps": em. Private to "tips": i.
"temps" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC · "tips" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "temps" and "tips" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "temps" or "tips"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "temps" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tips" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #246,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "temps" and "tips" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tips". 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 #246,305 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.