poètesvspotesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,602
“poètes” frequency rank
#3,488
“potes” frequency rank
12090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poètes potes
Definition Pluriel de poète. Pluriel de pote.

Where the eye mixes poètes and potes

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

6 ch
poètes
5 ch
potes

Visual trap between poètes and potes

A purely visual mix-up. poètes (\pɔ.ɛt\) and potes (\pɔt\) 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 12090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poètes is recorded at frequency rank #8,602, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ɛt\. potes is at rank #3,488, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔt\.

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 12090, this pair ranks #406,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of poètes vs potes

Shared letters: eopst. Private to "poètes": è. Private to "potes": -.

"poètes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "potes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potesoptes · poets · potess · pottes · ppotes · ptoes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poètes" and "potes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɔ.ɛt\ versus \pɔt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poètes" vs "potes" - which ranks higher?
"potes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,488 in our French list, against #8,602 for "poètes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poètes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "potes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #406,622 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poètes" and "potes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poètes vs pontet". 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 #406,622 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