Which to use
“tombeau” and “tombée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,567
- “tombeau” frequency rank
- #4,292
- “tombée” frequency rank
- 13859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombeau | tombée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sépulcre, monument élevé à la mémoire d’un (ou plusieurs) mort(s) à l’endroit de l’enterrement. | Chute, mouvement de ce qui tombe, au propre ou au figuré, ou survenue d'un évènement. |
Where the eye mixes tombeau and tombée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: tombeau vs tombée
A purely visual mix-up. tombeau (\tɔ̃.bo\) and tombée (\tɔ̃.be\) 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 13859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tombeau is recorded at frequency rank #9,567, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ̃.bo\. 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 13859, this pair ranks #399,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tombeau vs tombée
Shared letters: bemot. Private to "tombeau": au. Private to "tombée": é.
"tombeau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV · "tombée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- tombeau ← otmbeau · tmobeau · tobmeau · tombaeu · tombbeau · tombeua · tomebau · tommbeau
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tombeau" for "tombée" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "tombeau" or "tombée" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombeau" 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 #399,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombeau" and "tombée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tombeau vs tombeur". 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 #399,252 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.