Which to use
“tombée” is a noun and “tomber” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,292
- “tombée” frequency rank
- #1,048
- “tomber” frequency rank
- 5340
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombée | tomber |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chute, mouvement de ce qui tombe, au propre ou au figuré, ou survenue d'un évènement. | Être entraîné en bas par son poids. |
Same sound, different letters: tombée vs tomber
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: tombée vs tomber
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: tombée and tomber carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tɔ̃.be\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5340, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
tombée is recorded at frequency rank #4,292, classified as anoun, 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 5340, this pair ranks #429,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tombée vs tomber
Shared letters: bemot. Private to "tombée": é. Private to "tomber": r.
"tombée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "tomber" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- tomber ← otmber · tmober · tobmer · tombber · tomberr · tombre · tomebr · tommber
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "tombée" and "tomber" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "tombée" or "tomber"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "tombée" / "tomber". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombée" 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 #429,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombée" and "tomber" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "timbré vs tombée". 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 #429,289 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.