timbrévstimeWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: timbré is a adjective, time is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“timbré” is an adjective and “time” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#37,096
“timbré” frequency rank
#4,194
“time” frequency rank
41290
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature timbré time
Definition Muni d’un timbre. Temps.

Letter map: timbré vs time

Shared letters muted; letters that set timbré and time apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

6 ch
timbré
4 ch
time

Grammar separator: timbré vs time

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: timbré is anadjective and timeanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

timbré is recorded at frequency rank #37,096, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɛ̃.bʁe\. time is at rank #4,194, tagged as anoun.

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 41290, this pair ranks #234,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of timbré vs time

Shared letters: imt. Private to "timbré": bré. Private to "time": e.

"timbré" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV  ·  "time" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • timeitme · tiem · timme · tmie · ttime

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "timbré" for "time" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "timbré" is an adjective and "time" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "timbré" vs "time" - which ranks higher?
"time" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,194 in our French list, against #37,096 for "timbré". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "timbré" and "time".

  • Full dictionary entry for "timbré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "time" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "timbré" and "time" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tibre vs timbré". 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 #234,200 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