Which to use
“poils” and “poix” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,692
- “poils” frequency rank
- #38,482
- “poix” frequency rank
- 44174
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poils | poix |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poil. | Matière résineuse gluante et noire qui s’obtient par la distillation des bois résineux de pins ou de sapins. |
Where the eye mixes poils and poix
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. poils runs 5 letters (CVVCC) against poix's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poils with poix
A purely visual mix-up. poils (\pwal\) and poix (\pwa\) 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 44174, 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\. poix is at rank #38,482, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa\.
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 44174, this pair ranks #212,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poils vs poix
Shared letters: iop. Private to "poils": ls. Private to "poix": x.
"poils" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "poix" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poils" for "poix" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poils" vs "poix" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poils" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #212,463 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poils" and "poix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs poix". 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 #212,463 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.