poivsprofWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#40,426
“poi” frequency rank
#2,848
“prof” frequency rank
43274
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poi prof
Definition Plat polynésien de consistance pâteuse à semi-fluide, mélange de plusieurs fruits ou légumes. Professeur.

Where the eye mixes poi and prof

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

3 ch
poi
4 ch
prof

Visual trap between poi and prof

A purely visual mix-up. poi (\pɔj\) and prof (\pʁɔf\) 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 43274, 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\. prof is at rank #2,848, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔf\.

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 43274, this pair ranks #219,364 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poi vs prof

Shared letters: op. Private to "poi": i. Private to "prof": fr.

"poi" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "prof" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • profporf · pprof · prfo · proff · prrof · rpof

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "poi" for "prof" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɔj\ versus \pʁɔf\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poi" or "prof"?
"prof" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,848 in our French list, against #40,426 for "poi". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "poi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prof" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #219,364 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poi" and "prof" 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 #219,364 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