Which to use
“pétition” and “position” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,597
- “pétition” frequency rank
- #709
- “position” frequency rank
- 6306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pétition | position |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de demander. | Situation dans une structure, place dans un ensemble de coordonnées ; lieu, point où une chose est placée, situation. |
Where the eye mixes pétition and position
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pétition with position
A purely visual mix-up. pétition (\pe.ti.sjɔ̃\) and position (\po.zi.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pétition is recorded at frequency rank #5,597, classified as anoun, pronounced \pe.ti.sjɔ̃\. position is at rank #709, tagged as anoun, pronounced \po.zi.sjɔ̃\.
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 6306, this pair ranks #426,601 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pétition vs position
Shared letters: inopt. Private to "pétition": é. Private to "position": s.
"pétition" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "position" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- position ← opsition · poistion · posiiton · positino · positionn · positoin · posittion · possition
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pétition" and "position" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pétition" or "position"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pétition" and "position" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pétition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "position" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #426,601 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pétition" and "position" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "perdition vs pétition". 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 #426,601 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.