partesvspotesTell them apart

Quick tell: partes is a verb, potes is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“partes” is a verb and “potes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,195
“partes” frequency rank
#3,488
“potes” frequency rank
38683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature partes potes
Definition De partir. Pluriel de pote.

Where the eye mixes partes and potes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
partes
5 ch
potes

Look-alike desk: partes vs potes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: partes is \paʁt\ while potes is \pɔt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

partes is recorded at frequency rank #35,195, classified as averb, pronounced \paʁt\. potes is at rank #3,488, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔt\.

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 38683, this pair ranks #253,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of partes vs potes

Shared letters: epst. Private to "partes": ar. Private to "potes": o.

"partes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "potes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • partesaprtes · parets · parrtes · partess · partse · parttes · patres · ppartes
  • potesoptes · poets · potess · pottes · ppotes · ptoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "partes" for "potes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "partes" is a verb and "potes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "partes" or "potes"?
"potes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,488 in our French list, against #35,195 for "partes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "partes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "potes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #253,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "partes" and "potes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "partes vs pètes". 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 #253,551 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