Which to use
“pion” and “potion” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,208
- “pion” frequency rank
- #20,243
- “potion” frequency rank
- 36451
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pion | potion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce du jeu d’échecs placée initialement sur la seconde rangée de l’échiquier dans chaque camp. | Remède liquide, que l’on administre généralement par cuillerées. |
Where the eye mixes pion and potion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pion vs potion
A purely visual mix-up. pion (\pjɔ̃\) and potion (\pɔ.sjɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36451, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pion is recorded at frequency rank #16,208, classified as anoun, pronounced \pjɔ̃\. potion is at rank #20,243, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.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 36451, this pair ranks #269,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pion vs potion
Shared letters: inop. Private to "pion": -. Private to "potion": t.
"pion" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "potion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pion" for "potion" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pion" vs "potion" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pion" and "potion" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,529 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pion" and "potion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potion vs potiron". 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 #269,529 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.