Which to use
“peindre” and “poindre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,607
- “peindre” frequency rank
- #41,458
- “poindre” frequency rank
- 49065
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peindre | poindre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enduire ou couvrir de peinture, de couleur ou de pigments. | Piquer quelqu'un ou quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes peindre and poindre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. peindre and poindre follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: peindre vs poindre
A purely visual mix-up. peindre (\pɛ̃dʁ\) and poindre (\pwɛ̃dʁ\) 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 a single letter - e in “peindre” becomes o in “poindre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49065, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peindre is recorded at frequency rank #7,607, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ̃dʁ\. poindre is at rank #41,458, tagged as averb, pronounced \pwɛ̃dʁ\.
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 49065, this pair ranks #173,761 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of peindre vs poindre
Shared letters: deinpr. Private to "peindre": -. Private to "poindre": o.
"peindre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV · "poindre" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "peindre" and "poindre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "peindre" or "poindre" show up more?
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 "peindre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poindre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,761 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peindre" and "poindre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poindre vs pondéré". 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 #173,761 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.