Which to use
“peins” is a verb and “pois” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,098
- “peins” frequency rank
- #9,891
- “pois” frequency rank
- 57989
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | peins | pois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de peindre. | Chacune des graines, de forme ronde, et enfermées dans une cosse verte, d’une espèce de fabacée (légumineuse) papilionacée. |
Where the eye mixes peins and pois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. peins runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against pois's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses peins with pois
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: peins is \pɛ̃\ while pois is \pwa\. 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 57989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
peins is recorded at frequency rank #48,098, classified as averb, pronounced \pɛ̃\. pois is at rank #9,891, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa\.
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 57989, this pair ranks #111,695 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of peins vs pois
Shared letters: ips. Private to "peins": en. Private to "pois": o.
"peins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "pois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "peins" and "pois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "peins" or "pois"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "peins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,695 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "peins" and "pois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peins 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 #111,695 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.