pisservspuissesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#10,048
“pisser” frequency rank
#14,337
“puisses” frequency rank
24385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pisser puisses
Definition Uriner. Deuxième personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de pouvoir.

Where the eye mixes pisser and puisses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
pisser
7 ch
puisses

Look-alike desk: pisser vs puisses

A purely visual mix-up. pisser (\pi.se\) and puisses (\pɥis\) 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 24385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pisser is recorded at frequency rank #10,048, classified as averb, pronounced \pi.se\. puisses is at rank #14,337, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɥis\.

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 24385, this pair ranks #346,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pisser vs puisses

Shared letters: eips. Private to "pisser": r. Private to "puisses": u.

"pisser" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "puisses" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pisseripsser · piser · pisesr · pisserr · pissre · ppisser · psiser
  • puissespiusses · ppuisses · puisess · puissess · puissse · pusises · upisses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pisser" and "puisses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pi.se\ versus \pɥis\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pisser" or "puisses"?
"pisser" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,048 in our French list, against #14,337 for "puisses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pisser" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "puisses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #346,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pisser" and "puisses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prisées vs puisses". 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 #346,909 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list