Which to use
“pointe” and “poise” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,967
- “pointe” frequency rank
- #27,600
- “poise” frequency rank
- 55567
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pointe | poise |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The tip of the toe; a ballet position executed with the tip of the toe. | A state of balance, equilibrium or stability. |
Where the eye mixes pointe and poise
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pointe vs poise
A purely visual mix-up. pointe (/pwæ̃t/) and poise (/pɔɪz/) 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 55567, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pointe is recorded at frequency rank #27,967, classified as anoun, pronounced /pwæ̃t/. poise is at rank #27,600, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pɔɪz/.
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 55567, this pair ranks #132,658 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pointe vs poise
Shared letters: eiop. Private to "pointe": nt. Private to "poise": s.
"pointe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "poise" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pointe" and "poise" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pointe" or "poise"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pointe" and "poise" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pointe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #132,658 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pointe" and "poise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plinth vs pointe". 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 #132,658 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.