Which to use
“peaux” and “poux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,269
- “peaux” frequency rank
- #19,111
- “poux” frequency rank
- 30380
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peaux | poux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de peau. | Pluriel de pou. |
Where the eye mixes peaux and poux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. peaux runs 5 letters (CVVVC) against poux's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: peaux vs poux
A purely visual mix-up. peaux (\po\) and poux (\pu\) 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 30380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peaux is recorded at frequency rank #11,269, classified as anoun, pronounced \po\. poux is at rank #19,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu\.
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 30380, this pair ranks #310,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of peaux vs poux
Shared letters: pux. Private to "peaux": ae. Private to "poux": o.
"peaux" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "poux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "peaux" and "poux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "peaux" or "poux" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "peaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,693 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peaux" and "poux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pogo vs poux". 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 #310,693 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.