pousse
\pus\
The verdict
“pousse” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #2,793 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #2,793
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Action de pousser, croissance, développement de ce qui pousse.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pousse |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \pus\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #2,793 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pousse” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for pousse is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pus\. Corpus data places it at rank #2,793 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 5 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for pousse, with forms such as "opusse", "posuse", and "pouse". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "pussy", "puisé", "puisse", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is pousse, spelled P-O-U-S-S-E.
Definition
- 1Action de pousser, croissance, développement de ce qui pousse.
- 2Jets, petites branches que les arbres, les arbrisseaux poussent au printemps et au milieu de l’été.
- 3Jeune personne en pleine croissance.
- 4Maladie des vins qui les rend troubles.
- 5Hyperventilation chez les animaux de trait et de bât.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: opusse,posuse,pouse,pouses,ppousse,puosse
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pousse - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 "pousse"?
What does "pousse" mean?
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Using “pousse”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-O-U-S-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pus\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pussy” - see the side-by-side comparison. pousse vs pussy
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.