Which to use
“pir” and “poix” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,481
- “pir” frequency rank
- #38,482
- “poix” frequency rank
- 75963
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pir | poix |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Maître spirituel, en Afghanistan. | Matière résineuse gluante et noire qui s’obtient par la distillation des bois résineux de pins ou de sapins. |
Where the eye mixes pir and poix
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. pir runs 3 letters (CVC) against poix's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pir with poix
A purely visual mix-up. pir (\piʁ\) and poix (\pwa\) 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 75963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pir is recorded at frequency rank #37,481, classified as anoun, pronounced \piʁ\. poix is at rank #38,482, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa\.
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 75963, this pair ranks #32,475 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pir vs poix
Shared letters: ip. Private to "pir": r. Private to "poix": ox.
"pir" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "poix" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poix ← opix · piox · poixx · poxi · ppoix
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pir" for "poix" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pir" vs "poix" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #32,475 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pir" and "poix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs poix". 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 #32,475 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.