Which to use
“pilule” and “piqûre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,907
- “pilule” frequency rank
- #18,280
- “piqûre” frequency rank
- 27187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pilule | piqûre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forme pharmaceutique en forme de petite boule, qu’on avale ; comprimé. | Petite blessure que fait une chose ou un animal qui pique. |
Where the eye mixes pilule and piqûre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pilule vs piqûre
A purely visual mix-up. pilule (\pi.lyl\) and piqûre (\pi.kyʁ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pilule is recorded at frequency rank #8,907, classified as anoun, pronounced \pi.lyl\. piqûre is at rank #18,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi.kyʁ\.
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 27187, this pair ranks #330,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pilule vs piqûre
Shared letters: eip. Private to "pilule": lu. Private to "piqûre": qrû.
"pilule" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "piqûre" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pilule ← iplule · pillue · pillule · piluel · pilulle · piulle · pliule · ppilule
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pilule" and "piqûre" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pilule" or "piqûre" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pilule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piqûre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #330,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pilule" and "piqûre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piqués vs piqûre". 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 #330,572 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.