puce

\pys\

/\pys\/ noun

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

The verdict

“puce” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #7,614. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#7,614
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
5
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Insecte ectoparasite de très petite taille se déplaçant par saut et qui se nourrit du sang de divers animaux dont l’humain.

Corpus desk

Index FR-puce · puce · French

puce · rank #7,614 · 5 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #7,614
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 5 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH préférable

Nearest frequency peer: préférable (-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 « puce »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « puce » 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).

puce vs pur
50% similar
puce vs pue
75% similar
puce vs puy
50% similar

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

Key facts for puce
PropertyValue
Headwordpuce
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\pys\
Letters4
Frequency rank#7,614
Misspellings tracked5
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « puce »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).pucese 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 « préférable » (#7,613), « protégée » (#7,612), « rdv » (#7,616). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « puce » est au #7,614. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 5 spelling variants around puce (IPA \pys\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #7,614 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for puce, with forms such as "pcue", "ppuce", and "pucce". 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, "pur", "pue", "puy", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is puce, spelled P-U-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Insecte ectoparasite de très petite taille se déplaçant par saut et qui se nourrit du sang de divers animaux dont l’humain.
  2. 2
    Puce de mer ou puce de sable : appellation familière du talitre.
  3. 3
    Composant électronique monolithique non encapsulé.
  4. 4
    Nom que l’on donne à un bébé, ou à une très jeune fille. Est souvent aussi utilisé par les jeunes couples.
  5. 5
    Symbole typographique qui sert à marquer l’énumération au début d’une ligne.
  6. 6
    Boucle d'oreille de petite taille.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Un chien plein de puces, couvert de puces.
  2. La nicotiane eſt ennemie des poux & des puces, ſuivant J. Bauhin : on prétend que ſa fumée éloigne toute ſorte d’inſectes, même les punaiſes. On a obſervé que ſa poudre est mortelle aux léſards, ſang-ſues & limaçons.

Synonyms

sauteusemicropucemicroplaquette

This word in other languages

flea(English)pulga(Español)Floh(Deutsch)pulga(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • pcue
  • ppuce
  • pucce
  • puec
  • upce

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of puce - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

pcue2ppuce1pucce1puec2upce2
Edit distance from "puce"

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 "puce"?
"puce" is spelled P-U-C-E. The IPA pronunciation is \pys\.
What does "puce" mean?
As a noun, "puce" means: Insecte ectoparasite de très petite taille se déplaçant par saut et qui se nourrit du sang de divers animaux dont l’humain.
What words are commonly confused with "puce"?
"puce" is commonly confused with "pur", "pue", "puy". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "puce"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "puce" is \pys\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "puce" come from?
"puce" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "puce", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Dave#7,678bâti#7,534full#7,698Gary#7,700

Similar misspelling depth

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

appli5 variantsoral5 variantsados5 variantscoca5 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list