Which to use
“poings” and “pointe” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,210
- “poings” frequency rank
- #1,883
- “pointe” frequency rank
- 17093
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poings | pointe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poing. | Extrémité piquante et aigüe de quelque chose que ce soit. |
Where the eye mixes poings and pointe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. poings (CVVCCC) and pointe (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between poings and pointe
A purely visual mix-up. poings (\pwɛ̃\) and pointe (\pwɛ̃t\) 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 17093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poings is recorded at frequency rank #15,210, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃\. pointe is at rank #1,883, 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 17093, this pair ranks #384,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poings vs pointe
Shared letters: inop. Private to "poings": gs. Private to "pointe": et.
"poings" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "pointe" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poings" and "pointe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poings" or "pointe"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poings" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pointe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #384,834 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poings" and "pointe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peins vs poings". 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 #384,834 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.