Which to use
“tombée” is a noun and “tombés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,292
- “tombée” frequency rank
- #8,170
- “tombés” frequency rank
- 12462
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | tombée | tombés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chute, mouvement de ce qui tombe, au propre ou au figuré, ou survenue d'un évènement. | Masculin pluriel de tombé. |
Same sound, different letters: tombée vs tombés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. tombée (CVCCVV) and tombés (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Same sound, different spelling - tombée / tombés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: tombée and tombés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tɔ̃.be\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “tombée” becomes s in “tombés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12462, 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\. tombés is at rank #8,170, tagged as anadj, 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 12462, this pair ranks #405,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of tombée vs tombés
Shared letters: bmoté. Private to "tombée": e. Private to "tombés": s.
"tombée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "tombés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "tombée" for "tombés" ever safe?
Frequency check: "tombée" vs "tombés" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"tombée" and "tombés" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "tombée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "tombés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,168 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "tombée" and "tombés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tombés vs tories". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #405,168 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.