Which to use
“pilon” and “poison” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,716
- “pilon” frequency rank
- #9,216
- “poison” frequency rank
- 33932
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pilon | poison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Instrument dont on se sert pour piler quelque chose dans un mortier, pour écraser quelque chose dans un mortier. | Substance qui, introduite dans l’organisme, altère ou même détruit les fonctions vitales. |
Where the eye mixes pilon and poison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pilon with poison
A purely visual mix-up. pilon (\pi.lɔ̃\) and poison (\pwa.zɔ̃\) 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 33932, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pilon is recorded at frequency rank #24,716, classified as anoun, pronounced \pi.lɔ̃\. poison is at rank #9,216, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa.zɔ̃\.
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 33932, this pair ranks #287,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pilon vs poison
Shared letters: inop. Private to "pilon": l. Private to "poison": s.
"pilon" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pilon" for "poison" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pilon" vs "poison" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pilon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #287,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pilon" and "poison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilon vs pio". 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 #287,299 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.