Melting vs tempering

Melting is making chocolate liquid. Tempering is controlling how it becomes solid again. Most recipes only need the first.

Why these get confused

Tempering is often treated as an advanced form of melting. It is a separate operation about crystal formation on the way back to solid, and melting is only its first step.

Side by side

	Melting	Tempering	Why it matters
What it controls	Nothing about the set. Chocolate melted and cooled sets soft, dull and streaky.	Which cocoa butter crystal form dominates — Form V, which gives snap and gloss.	If the chocolate ends up inside something, melting is enough. If it will be visible and solid, it must be tempered.
When it matters	Baking, ganache, sauce, mousse, frosting — anywhere the chocolate does not set on its own.	Bars, shells, coatings, decorations, dipped fruit — anything that sets in the open.
Equipment	A bowl and a gentle heat source.	The same, plus an accurate thermometer.	The thermometer is not optional. The temperature windows are only a couple of degrees wide.
Consequence of getting it wrong	Seizing or scorching, both recoverable into another use.	Dull, soft, streaky results — cosmetic rather than inedible, and fixable by re-tempering.

Choose Melting when

For every application where the chocolate is combined into something else.

Choose Tempering when

Whenever the finished chocolate will be seen and eaten as a solid.

Compared in

Melting chocolateSet against Tempering, which readers frequently believe is the same thing.
Tempering chocolateSet against Melting, which readers frequently believe is the same thing.

Sources

ChocolateHQ editorial synthesis — ChocolateHQ(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)
The Science of Chocolate — Royal Society of Chemistry(citation identity confirmed; passage not re-read)