Which to use
“pointes” and “princes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,724
- “pointes” frequency rank
- #6,425
- “princes” frequency rank
- 16149
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pointes | princes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chaussures à pointes. | Pluriel de prince. |
Where the eye mixes pointes and princes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pointes with princes
A purely visual mix-up. pointes (\pwɛ̃t\) and princes (\pʁɛ̃s\) 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 16149, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pointes is recorded at frequency rank #9,724, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwɛ̃t\. princes is at rank #6,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ̃s\.
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 16149, this pair ranks #389,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pointes vs princes
Shared letters: einps. Private to "pointes": ot. Private to "princes": cr.
"pointes" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "princes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pointes" and "princes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pointes" vs "princes" - which ranks higher?
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 "pointes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "princes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #389,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pointes" and "princes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pointes 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 #389,147 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.