Which to use
“tombait” and “tombent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,754
- “tombait” frequency rank
- #5,618
- “tombent” frequency rank
- 22372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombait | tombent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de tomber. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de tomber. |
Where the eye mixes tombait and tombent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. tombait (CVCCVVC) and tombent (CVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between tombait and tombent
A purely visual mix-up. tombait (\tɔ̃.bɛ\) and tombent (\tɔ̃b\) 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 22372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tombait is recorded at frequency rank #16,754, classified as averb, pronounced \tɔ̃.bɛ\. tombent is at rank #5,618, tagged as averb, pronounced \tɔ̃b\.
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 22372, this pair ranks #358,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tombait vs tombent
Shared letters: bmot. Private to "tombait": ai. Private to "tombent": en.
"tombait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "tombent" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "tombait" and "tombent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "tombait" or "tombent"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "tombait" and "tombent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tombent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #358,349 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombait" and "tombent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tombais vs tombait". 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 #358,349 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.