Which to use
“poilue” and “pointue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,461
- “poilue” frequency rank
- #27,913
- “pointue” frequency rank
- 67374
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poilue | pointue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de poilu. | Féminin singulier de pointu. |
Where the eye mixes poilue and pointue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses poilue with pointue
A purely visual mix-up. poilue (\pwa.ly\) and pointue (\pwɛ̃.ty\) 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 67374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poilue is recorded at frequency rank #39,461, classified as anadj, pronounced \pwa.ly\. pointue is at rank #27,913, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pwɛ̃.ty\.
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 67374, this pair ranks #63,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of poilue vs pointue
Shared letters: eiopu. Private to "poilue": l. Private to "pointue": nt.
"poilue" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "pointue" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poilue" for "pointue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poilue" vs "pointue" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "poilue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pointue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #63,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poilue" and "pointue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poilue 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 #63,687 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.