Which to use
“poignée” and “poignet” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,382
- “poignée” frequency rank
- #9,723
- “poignet” frequency rank
- 15105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poignée | poignet |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Quantité de matière qu’on peut prendre dans une main. | Articulation par laquelle l’avant-bras se joint à la main. |
Where the eye mixes poignée and poignet
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. poignée (CVVCCVV) and poignet (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between poignée and poignet
A purely visual mix-up. poignée (\pwa.ɲe\) and poignet (\pwa.ɲɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poignée is recorded at frequency rank #5,382, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwa.ɲe\. poignet is at rank #9,723, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa.ɲɛ\.
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 15105, this pair ranks #393,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poignée vs poignet
Shared letters: eginop. Private to "poignée": é. Private to "poignet": t.
"poignée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV · "poignet" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poignet ← opignet · piognet · poginet · poigent · poiggnet · poignett · poignnet · poignte
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poignée" and "poignet" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "poignée" or "poignet"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "poignée" and "poignet" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poignée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poignet" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #393,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poignée" and "poignet" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poigne vs poignet". 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 #393,837 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.