Which to use
“poils” and “point” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,692
- “poils” frequency rank
- #217
- “point” frequency rank
- 5909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poils | point |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poil. | Action de piquer dans un tissu avec une aiguille enfilée ou résultat de cette action, piqûre. |
Where the eye mixes poils and point
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between poils and point
A purely visual mix-up. poils (\pwal\) and point (\pwɛ̃\) 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 5909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poils is recorded at frequency rank #5,692, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwal\. point is at rank #217, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃\.
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 5909, this pair ranks #427,704 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poils vs point
Shared letters: iop. Private to "poils": ls. Private to "point": nt.
"poils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "point" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poils" and "point" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "poils" vs "point" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poils" and "point" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "point" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #427,704 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poils" and "point" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poils vs poilues". 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 #427,704 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.