Which to use
“pointer” and “pointure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,102
- “pointer” frequency rank
- #27,914
- “pointure” frequency rank
- 39016
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pointer | pointure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Race de grand chien d’arrêt britannique, originaire d’Angleterre, au stop bien marqué, à queue droite et effilée, à poil court, à robe unicolore ou bicolore. | Dimension exprimée en point d’un objet quelconque. |
Where the eye mixes pointer and pointure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pointer with pointure
A purely visual mix-up. pointer (\pwɛ̃.tɛʁ\) and pointure (\pwɛ̃.tyʁ\) 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 39016, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pointer is recorded at frequency rank #11,102, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃.tɛʁ\. pointure is at rank #27,914, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃.tyʁ\.
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 39016, this pair ranks #251,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pointer vs pointure
Shared letters: einoprt. Private to "pointer": -. Private to "pointure": u.
"pointer" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "pointure" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pointer" and "pointure" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "pointer" or "pointure" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pointer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pointure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #251,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pointer" and "pointure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pointeurs vs pointure". 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 #251,116 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.