pètesvspoèmesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,737
“pètes” frequency rank
#6,870
“poèmes” frequency rank
55607
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pètes poèmes
Definition Pluriel de pète. Pluriel de poème.

Where the eye mixes pètes and poèmes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pètes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against poèmes's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
pètes
6 ch
poèmes

Look-alike desk: pètes vs poèmes

A purely visual mix-up. pètes (\pɛt\) and poèmes (\pɔ.ɛm\) 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 55607, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pètes is recorded at frequency rank #48,737, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛt\. poèmes is at rank #6,870, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ɛm\.

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 55607, this pair ranks #126,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pètes vs poèmes

Shared letters: epsè. Private to "pètes": t. Private to "poèmes": mo.

"pètes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "poèmes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pètes" and "poèmes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛt\ versus \pɔ.ɛm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pètes" or "poèmes"?
"poèmes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,870 in our French list, against #48,737 for "pètes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "pètes" and "poèmes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pètes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poèmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #126,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pètes" and "poèmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peep vs pètes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #126,390 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list