Which to use
“poi” and “poils” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,426
- “poi” frequency rank
- #5,692
- “poils” frequency rank
- 46118
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poi | poils |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plat polynésien de consistance pâteuse à semi-fluide, mélange de plusieurs fruits ou légumes. | Pluriel de poil. |
Where the eye mixes poi and poils
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. poi runs 3 letters (CVV) against poils's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between poi and poils
A purely visual mix-up. poi (\pɔj\) and poils (\pwal\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “poi” sits inside “poils”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poi is recorded at frequency rank #40,426, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔj\. poils is at rank #5,692, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwal\.
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 46118, this pair ranks #197,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poi vs poils
Shared letters: iop. Private to "poi": -. Private to "poils": ls.
"poi" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "poils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poils ← opils · piols · poills · poilss · poisl · ppoils
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poi" and "poils" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poi" or "poils"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poi" and "poils" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poils" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #197,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poi" and "poils" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs poi". 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 #197,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.