Which to use
“tombé” is an adjective and “tomber” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,342
- “tombé” frequency rank
- #1,048
- “tomber” frequency rank
- 3390
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombé | tomber |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Déchu, qui n’a plus beaucoup de succès. | Être entraîné en bas par son poids. |
Same sound, different letters: tombé vs tomber
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - tombé / tomber
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: tombé and tomber carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tɔ̃.be\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3390, 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\. tomber is at rank #1,048, tagged as averb, 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 3390, this pair ranks #434,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tombé vs tomber
Shared letters: bmot. Private to "tombé": é. Private to "tomber": er.
"tombé" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "tomber" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tomber ← otmber · tmober · tobmer · tombber · tomberr · tombre · tomebr · tommber
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tombé" and "tomber" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "tombé" vs "tomber" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"tombé" and "tomber" 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 "tomber" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombé" and "tomber" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "toe vs tombé". 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 #434,146 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.