pintevspointeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,691
“pinte” frequency rank
#1,883
“pointe” frequency rank
30574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pinte pointe
Definition Ancienne unité de mesure qui servait à mesurer le vin et autres liquides, et dont la valeur différait selon les lieux. À Paris elle valait 0,93 litre. Extrémité piquante et aigüe de quelque chose que ce soit.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pinte and pointe apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
pinte
6 ch
pointe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pinte (\pɛ̃t\) and pointe (\pwɛ̃t\) 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 30574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pinte is recorded at frequency rank #28,691, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɛ̃t\. pointe is at rank #1,883, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃t\.

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 30574, this pair ranks #309,387 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pinte vs pointe

Shared letters: einpt. Private to "pinte": -. Private to "pointe": o.

"pinte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "pointe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pinteipnte · pinet · pinnte · pintte · pitne · pnite · ppinte
  • pointeopinte · pionte · poinet · poinnte · pointte · poitne · ponite · ppointe

Frequency comparison

pinte#28,691
pointe#1,883

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pinte" and "pointe" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɛ̃t\ versus \pwɛ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pinte" or "pointe"?
"pointe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,883 in our French list, against #28,691 for "pinte". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pinte vs pointe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pinte” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list