peintesvspointuesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“peintes” and “pointues” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,364
“peintes” frequency rank
#24,331
“pointues” frequency rank
43695
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peintes pointues
Definition Féminin pluriel de peint. Féminin pluriel de pointu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set peintes and pointues apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
peintes
8 ch
pointues

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. peintes (\pɛ̃t\) and pointues (\pwɛ̃.ty\) 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 43695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peintes is recorded at frequency rank #19,364, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɛ̃t\. pointues is at rank #24,331, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pwɛ̃.ty\.

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 43695, this pair ranks #216,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peintes vs pointues

Shared letters: einpst. Private to "peintes": -. Private to "pointues": ou.

"peintes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "pointues" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • peintesepintes · peinets · peinntes · peintess · peintse · peinttes · peitnes · penites
  • pointuesopintues · piontues · poinntues · pointeus · pointtues · pointuess · pointuse · poinutes

Frequency comparison

peintes#19,364
pointues#24,331

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peintes" and "pointues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛ̃t\ versus \pwɛ̃.ty\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "peintes" or "pointues"?
"peintes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,364 in our French list, against #24,331 for "pointues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering peintes vs pointues

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “peintes” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list