Which to use
“pitre” and “poutre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,326
- “pitre” frequency rank
- #15,725
- “poutre” frequency rank
- 40051
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pitre | poutre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acteur populaire chargé d’amuser la foule amassée autour des tréteaux d’un charlatan, par des grimaces et de grosses plaisanteries. | Pièce de bois de forme allongée, servant dans les constructions à supporter une charpente ou un parquet. |
Where the eye mixes pitre and poutre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pitre runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against poutre's 6 (CVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pitre with poutre
A purely visual mix-up. pitre (\pitʁ\) and poutre (\putʁ\) 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 40051, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pitre is recorded at frequency rank #24,326, classified as anoun, pronounced \pitʁ\. poutre is at rank #15,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced \putʁ\.
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 40051, this pair ranks #243,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pitre vs poutre
Shared letters: eprt. Private to "pitre": i. Private to "poutre": ou.
"pitre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "poutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pitre" and "poutre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pitre" or "poutre"?
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 "pitre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poutre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #243,414 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pitre" and "poutre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Piotr vs pitre". 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 #243,414 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.