Which to use
“tombé” is an adjective and “tombée” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,342
- “tombé” frequency rank
- #4,292
- “tombée” frequency rank
- 6634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombé | tombée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Déchu, qui n’a plus beaucoup de succès. | Chute, mouvement de ce qui tombe, au propre ou au figuré, ou survenue d'un évènement. |
Same sound, different letters: tombé vs tombée
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: tombé vs tombée
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: tombé and tombée carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tɔ̃.be\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “tombé” sits inside “tombée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tombé is recorded at frequency rank #2,342, classified as anadj, pronounced \tɔ̃.be\. 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 6634, this pair ranks #425,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tombé vs tombée
Shared letters: bmoté. Private to "tombé": -. Private to "tombée": e.
"tombé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tombée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tombé" and "tombée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tombé" vs "tombée" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"tombé" and "tombée" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombé" 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 #425,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombé" and "tombée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toe vs tombé". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #425,681 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.