Which to use
“poilues” and “polies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,282
- “poilues” frequency rank
- #43,074
- “polies” frequency rank
- 92356
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poilues | polies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de poilu. | Féminin pluriel de poli. |
Where the eye mixes poilues and polies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. poilues runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against polies's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between poilues and polies
A purely visual mix-up. poilues (\pwa.ly\) and polies (\po.li\) 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 92356, 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\. polies is at rank #43,074, tagged as anadj, pronounced \po.li\.
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 92356, this pair ranks #3,068 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of poilues vs polies
Shared letters: eilops. Private to "poilues": u. Private to "polies": -.
"poilues" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "polies" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poilues" and "polies" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "poilues" vs "polies" - 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 "poilues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #3,068 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poilues" and "polies" 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 #3,068 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.