Which to use
“poings” and “pois” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,210
- “poings” frequency rank
- #9,891
- “pois” frequency rank
- 25101
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poings | pois |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poing. | Chacune des graines, de forme ronde, et enfermées dans une cosse verte, d’une espèce de fabacée (légumineuse) papilionacée. |
Where the eye mixes poings and pois
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. poings runs 6 letters (CVVCCC) against pois's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: poings vs pois
A purely visual mix-up. poings (\pwɛ̃\) and pois (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25101, 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\. pois is at rank #9,891, 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 25101, this pair ranks #342,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poings vs pois
Shared letters: iops. Private to "poings": gn. Private to "pois": -.
"poings" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCC · "pois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poings" and "pois" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "poings" or "pois" show up more?
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 "pois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,806 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poings" and "pois" 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 #342,806 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.