pointu

\pwɛ̃.ty\

/\pwɛ̃.ty\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pointu” has 8 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #18,023. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#18,023
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui a une pointe aiguë, qui se termine en pointe.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pointu · pointu · French

pointu · rank #18,023 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #18,023
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH Piéton

Nearest frequency peer: Piéton (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « pointu »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « pointu » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pointu vs pont
67% similar
pointu vs ponts
67% similar
pointu vs ponte
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pointu
PropertyValue
Headwordpointu
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pwɛ̃.ty\
Letters6
Frequency rank#18,023
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pointu »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).pointuse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « Piéton » (#18,022), « poutres » (#18,024), « pixels » (#18,021). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pointu » est au #18,023. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around pointu (IPA \pwɛ̃.ty\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #18,023 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pointu, with forms such as "opintu", "piontu", and "poinntu". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pont", "ponts", "ponte", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is pointu, spelled P-O-I-N-T-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Qui a une pointe aiguë, qui se termine en pointe.
  2. 2
    Qui fait preuve d’une grande précision dans un domaine.
  3. 3
    Qui a un accent du type parisien, en français, pour une personne du sud de la France.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pointu appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Graux remarqua qu'elle portait un pyjama de soie très fine qui laissait deviner un corps mince, des seins pointus de jeune fille.
  2. Elle vous regarde et d’une lente démarche s’en va au doué, portant sur l’os pointu de son épaule le linge à laver.

This word in other languages

pointed(English)afilado(Español)grell(Deutsch)acre(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opintu
  • piontu
  • poinntu
  • pointtu
  • poinut
  • poitnu
  • ponitu
  • ppointu

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pointu - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

opintu2piontu2poinntu1pointtu1poinut2poitnu2ponitu2ppointu1
Edit distance from "pointu"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "pointu"?
"pointu" is spelled P-O-I-N-T-U. The IPA pronunciation is \pwɛ̃.ty\.
What does "pointu" mean?
As an adjective, "pointu" means: Qui a une pointe aiguë, qui se termine en pointe.
What words are commonly confused with "pointu"?
"pointu" is commonly confused with "pont", "ponts", "ponte". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pointu"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pointu" is \pwɛ̃.ty\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pointu" come from?
"pointu" is a French word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pointu", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Piéton#18,022pixels#18,021number#18,010nounou#18,008

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

refusa8 variantsnative8 variantsrennais8 variantsrevêt8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list