tombervstombésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: tomber is a verb, tombés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tomber” is a verb and “tombés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,048
“tomber” frequency rank
#8,170
“tombés” frequency rank
9218
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tomber tombés
Definition Être entraîné en bas par son poids. Masculin pluriel de tombé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tomber and tombés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tomber
6 ch
tombés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: tomber and tombés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \tɔ̃.be\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, 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 9218, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tomber is recorded at frequency rank #1,048, classified as averb, 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 9218, this pair ranks #417,413 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tomber vs tombés

Shared letters: bmot. Private to "tomber": er. Private to "tombés": .

"tomber" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "tombés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tomberotmber · tmober · tobmer · tombber · tomberr · tombre · tomebr · tommber

Frequency comparison

tomber#1,048
tombés#8,170

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tomber" and "tombés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tomber" is a verb and "tombés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "tomber" or "tombés"?
"tomber" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,048 in our French list, against #8,170 for "tombés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tomber vs tombés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “tomber”; for an adjective, it's “tombés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tomber” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list