paonvspotConfusable pair

Which to use

“paon” and “pot” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,277
“paon” frequency rank
#3,954
“pot” frequency rank
32231
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paon pot
Definition Grand oiseau domesticable, de l’ordre des gallinacés, dont le cri est strident, qui a un beau plumage mordoré, une petite aigrette sur la tête et dont la queue se compose de longues plumes couvertes d’ocelles, marques de différentes couleurs en forme d’yeux. Vase de terre, verre, métal, plastique ou autre matière servant à divers usages.

Where the eye mixes paon and pot

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
paon
3 ch
pot

Why the eye confuses paon with pot

A purely visual mix-up. paon (\pɑ̃\) and pot (\po\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32231, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paon is recorded at frequency rank #28,277, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑ̃\. pot is at rank #3,954, tagged as anoun, pronounced \po\.

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 32231, this pair ranks #298,631 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paon vs pot

Shared letters: op. Private to "paon": an. Private to "pot": t.

"paon" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "pot" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paonapon · pano · paonn · poan · ppaon

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paon" for "pot" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɑ̃\ versus \po\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "paon" or "pot" show up more?
"pot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,954 in our French list, against #28,277 for "paon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,631 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paon" and "pot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paon vs pio". 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 #298,631 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list