Which to use
“poilues” is an adjective and “pointes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #49,282
- “poilues” frequency rank
- #9,724
- “pointes” frequency rank
- 59006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poilues | pointes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de poilu. | Chaussures à pointes. |
Where the eye mixes poilues and pointes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. poilues (CVVCVVC) and pointes (CVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses poilues with pointes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poilues is \pwa.ly\ while pointes is \pwɛ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poilues is recorded at frequency rank #49,282, classified as anadj, pronounced \pwa.ly\. pointes is at rank #9,724, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃t\.
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 59006, this pair ranks #105,627 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of poilues vs pointes
Shared letters: eiops. Private to "poilues": lu. Private to "pointes": nt.
"poilues" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "pointes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poilues" for "pointes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poilues" vs "pointes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poilues" and "pointes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poilues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pointes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #105,627 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poilues" and "pointes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "piqués 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 #105,627 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.