Which to use
“pieds” and “pieu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,006
- “pieds” frequency rank
- #26,470
- “pieu” frequency rank
- 27476
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pieds | pieu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pied. | Pièce de bois qui est pointue par un des bouts et qu’on emploie à divers usages. |
Where the eye mixes pieds and pieu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pieds runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against pieu's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pieds vs pieu
A purely visual mix-up. pieds (\pje\) and pieu (\pjø\) 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 27476, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pieds is recorded at frequency rank #1,006, classified as anoun, pronounced \pje\. pieu is at rank #26,470, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pjø\.
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 27476, this pair ranks #328,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pieds vs pieu
Shared letters: eip. Private to "pieds": ds. Private to "pieu": u.
"pieds" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "pieu" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pieds" and "pieu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pieds" or "pieu" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pieds" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pieu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #328,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pieds" and "pieu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pieu vs prep". 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 #328,719 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.