Which to use
“paresse” is a noun and “poreuse” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,622
- “paresse” frequency rank
- #49,287
- “poreuse” frequency rank
- 68909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paresse | poreuse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tendance à éviter toute activité, à refuser tout effort consenti par les autres lambdas, disposition habituelle à ne pas travailler, nonchalance, négligence des choses qui sont de devoir, d’obligation. | Féminin singulier de poreux. |
Where the eye mixes paresse and poreuse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between paresse and poreuse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: paresse is \pa.ʁɛs\ while poreuse is \pɔ.ʁøz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paresse is recorded at frequency rank #19,622, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁɛs\. poreuse is at rank #49,287, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔ.ʁøz\.
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 68909, this pair ranks #57,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of paresse vs poreuse
Shared letters: eprs. Private to "paresse": a. Private to "poreuse": ou.
"paresse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "poreuse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paresse" and "poreuse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "paresse" vs "poreuse" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paresse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poreuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paresse" and "poreuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poreuse vs poreux". 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 #57,241 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.