Which to use
“tombait” and “trompait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,754
- “tombait” frequency rank
- #26,211
- “trompait” frequency rank
- 42965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombait | trompait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de tomber. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de tromper. |
Where the eye mixes tombait and trompait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between tombait and trompait
A purely visual mix-up. tombait (\tɔ̃.bɛ\) and trompait (\tʁɔ̃.pɛ\) 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 42965, 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\. trompait is at rank #26,211, tagged as averb, pronounced \tʁɔ̃.pɛ\.
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 42965, this pair ranks #221,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of tombait vs trompait
Shared letters: aimot. Private to "tombait": b. Private to "trompait": pr.
"tombait" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "trompait" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tombait" for "trompait" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tombait" vs "trompait" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "trompait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #221,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombait" and "trompait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "trompait vs trompant". 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 #221,620 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.