puer

\pɥe\

/\pɥe\/ verb

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

The verdict

“puer” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #37,014) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#37,014
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
2
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sentir mauvais.

Corpus desk

Index FR-puer · puer · French

puer · rank #37,014 · 2 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #37,014
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 2 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH publions

Nearest frequency peer: publions (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « puer »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « puer » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

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).

puer vs pur
75% similar
puer vs puy
50% similar
puer vs pus
50% similar

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

Key facts for puer
PropertyValue
Headwordpuer
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\pɥe\
Letters4
Frequency rank#37,014
Misspellings tracked2
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « puer »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.puerse 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 « publions » (#37,013), « pujol » (#37,015), « Pérouse » (#37,016). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « puer » est au #37,014. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for puer is neighbouring look-alikes ("pur", "puy", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced \pɥe\. Frequency #37,014 among 6,826 “P” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our generated misspelling index lists 2 likely wrong-spelling variants for puer, including "ppuer" and "puerr". 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, "pur", "puy", "pus", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is puer, spelled P-U-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sentir mauvais.
  2. 2
    Avoir l’odeur de quelque chose de façon excessive ou incommode.
  3. 3
    Dénoter la présence d’un élément négatif.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Savon et tabac. Curieux mélange, mais les tabacs morts finissent tous par puer pareillement.
  2. Il puait la vinasse et suait à grosses gouttes. Avec celle du courrier, il avait déjà commencé la tournée des bistros.

Synonyms

blairercamembérercocottercognercognoterdauberdofferemboucaneremboconnerempesterfouettergninzeklaxonnermouetterne pas sentir la rosepoquerpuirrefoulerreniflerrougnotterschlinguerschlipoterschmecterschmouterschnouffersentirsentir le boucle fauvela mortla petite fille qui se négligetaper

This word in other languages

stink(English)heder(Español)stinken(Deutsch)feder(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ppuer
  • puerr

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of puer - 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.

ppuer1puerr1
Edit distance from "puer"

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 "puer"?
"puer" is spelled P-U-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \pɥe\.
What does "puer" mean?
As a verb, "puer" means: Sentir mauvais.
What words are commonly confused with "puer"?
"puer" is commonly confused with "pur", "puy", "pus". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "puer"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "puer" is \pɥe\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "puer" come from?
"puer" 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 "puer", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

psys#37,011poto#37,006pops#37,004rust#37,050

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list