tirvstmaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,969
“tir” frequency rank
#48,830
“tma” frequency rank
51799
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tir tma
Definition Action, art de tirer, de faire partir une arme de jet ou une arme à feu dans une direction déterminée. Obscurité, ténèbres.

Where the eye mixes tir and tma

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
tir
3 ch
tma

Why the eye confuses tir with tma

A purely visual mix-up. tir (\tiʁ\) and tma (\tma\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tir is recorded at frequency rank #2,969, classified as anoun, pronounced \tiʁ\. tma is at rank #48,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tma\.

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 51799, this pair ranks #152,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tir vs tma

Shared letters: t. Private to "tir": ir. Private to "tma": am.

"tir" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "tma" · 3 letters · shape CCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tir" and "tma" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\tiʁ\ versus \tma\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tir" vs "tma" - which ranks higher?
"tir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,969 in our French list, against #48,830 for "tma". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "tir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tma" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tir" and "tma" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tif vs tma". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #152,394 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