Which to use
“path” and “pots” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,109
- “path” frequency rank
- #8,442
- “pots” frequency rank
- 40551
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | path | pots |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sentier, chemin, voie. | Pluriel de pot. |
Where the eye mixes path and pots
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. path and pots follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses path with pots
A purely visual mix-up. path (\pɑːθ\) and pots (\po\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
path is recorded at frequency rank #32,109, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɑːθ\. pots is at rank #8,442, 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 40551, this pair ranks #239,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of path vs pots
Shared letters: pt. Private to "path": ah. Private to "pots": os.
"path" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "path" and "pots" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "path" vs "pots" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "path" and "pots" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "path" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pots" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "path" and "pots" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "path vs PTZ". 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 #239,657 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.