Which to use
“poème” and “poètes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,278
- “poème” frequency rank
- #8,602
- “poètes” frequency rank
- 13880
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poème | poètes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ouvrage de littérature en vers. | Pluriel de poète. |
Where the eye mixes poème and poètes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. poème runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against poètes's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poème with poètes
A purely visual mix-up. poème (\pɔ.ɛm\) and poètes (\pɔ.ɛt\) 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 13880, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poème is recorded at frequency rank #5,278, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ɛm\. poètes is at rank #8,602, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ɛt\.
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 13880, this pair ranks #399,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poème vs poètes
Shared letters: eopè. Private to "poème": m. Private to "poètes": st.
"poème" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "poètes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poème" and "poètes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "poème" or "poètes" show up more?
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 "poème" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poètes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,155 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poème" and "poètes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poètes vs pontet". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #399,155 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.