Which to use
“pointe” is a noun and “printed” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,967
- “pointe” frequency rank
- #3,649
- “printed” frequency rank
- 31616
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pointe | printed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The tip of the toe; a ballet position executed with the tip of the toe. | Put down on paper by a printing press or a computer printer. |
Where the eye mixes pointe and printed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pointe and printed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pointe is /pwæ̃t/ while printed is /ˈpɹɪn.tɪd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31616, 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/. printed is at rank #3,649, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈpɹɪn.tɪd/.
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 31616, this pair ranks #344,669 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pointe vs printed
Shared letters: einpt. Private to "pointe": o. Private to "printed": dr.
"pointe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "printed" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pointe" and "printed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pointe" or "printed"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pointe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "printed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,669 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pointe" and "printed" 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 #344,669 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.