Which to use
“passions” is a noun and “puissions” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,736
- “passions” frequency rank
- #12,847
- “puissions” frequency rank
- 20583
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | passions | puissions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de passion. | Première personne du pluriel du subjonctif présent de pouvoir. |
Where the eye mixes passions and puissions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. passions runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against puissions's 9 (CVVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses passions with puissions
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: passions is \pa.sjɔ̃\ while puissions is \pɥi.sjɔ̃\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20583, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
passions is recorded at frequency rank #7,736, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.sjɔ̃\. puissions is at rank #12,847, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɥi.sjɔ̃\.
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 20583, this pair ranks #367,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of passions vs puissions
Shared letters: inops. Private to "passions": a. Private to "puissions": u.
"passions" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC · "puissions" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "passions" and "puissions" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "passions" or "puissions" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "passions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puissions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "passions" and "puissions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "parions vs passions". 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 #367,526 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.