Which to use
“pointée” and “pointu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,528
- “pointée” frequency rank
- #18,023
- “pointu” frequency rank
- 50551
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pointée | pointu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de pointé. | Qui a une pointe aiguë, qui se termine en pointe. |
Where the eye mixes pointée and pointu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pointée vs pointu
A purely visual mix-up. pointée (\pwɛ̃.te\) and pointu (\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 50551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pointée is recorded at frequency rank #32,528, classified as anadj, pronounced \pwɛ̃.te\. pointu is at rank #18,023, 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 50551, this pair ranks #161,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pointée vs pointu
Shared letters: inopt. Private to "pointée": eé. Private to "pointu": u.
"pointée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV · "pointu" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pointu ← opintu · piontu · poinntu · pointtu · poinut · poitnu · ponitu · ppointu
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pointée" and "pointu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pointée" or "pointu" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pointée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pointu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #161,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pointée" and "pointu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pointée vs pontet". 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 #161,759 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.