Which to use
“timbré” is an adjective and “tombée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #37,096
- “timbré” frequency rank
- #4,292
- “tombée” frequency rank
- 41388
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | timbré | tombée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Muni d’un timbre. | Chute, mouvement de ce qui tombe, au propre ou au figuré, ou survenue d'un évènement. |
Where the eye mixes timbré and tombée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between timbré and tombée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: timbré is \tɛ̃.bʁe\ while tombée is \tɔ̃.be\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41388, 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\. tombée is at rank #4,292, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ̃.be\.
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 41388, this pair ranks #233,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of timbré vs tombée
Shared letters: bmté. Private to "timbré": ir. Private to "tombée": eo.
"timbré" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "tombée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "timbré" and "tombée" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "timbré" or "tombée"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "timbré" and "tombée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "timbré" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tombée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #233,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "timbré" and "tombée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Tibre vs timbré". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #233,444 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.