plugvspusConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#23,647
“plug” frequency rank
#13,881
“pus” frequency rank
37528
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plug pus
Definition Prise électrique ; fiche. Matière liquide, épaisse, blanchâtre, qui se forme dans les abcès, qui sort des plaies et des ulcères.

Where the eye mixes plug and pus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
plug
3 ch
pus

Look-alike desk: plug vs pus

A purely visual mix-up. plug (\plœɡ\) and pus (\py\) 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 37528, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plug is recorded at frequency rank #23,647, classified as anoun, pronounced \plœɡ\. pus is at rank #13,881, tagged as anoun, pronounced \py\.

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 37528, this pair ranks #261,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of plug vs pus

Shared letters: pu. Private to "plug": gl. Private to "pus": s.

"plug" · 4 letters · shape CCVC  ·  "pus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pluglpug · plgu · pllug · plugg · pplug · pulg

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "plug" and "pus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\plœɡ\ versus \py\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "plug" or "pus"?
"pus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,881 in our French list, against #23,647 for "plug". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "plug" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #261,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plug" and "pus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plug vs Pluto". 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 #261,857 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