Which to use
“poires” and “poutres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,649
- “poires” frequency rank
- #18,024
- “poutres” frequency rank
- 41673
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poires | poutres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poire. | Pluriel de poutre. |
Where the eye mixes poires and poutres
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. poires runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against poutres's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: poires vs poutres
A purely visual mix-up. poires (\pwaʁ\) and poutres (\putʁ\) 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 41673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poires is recorded at frequency rank #23,649, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwaʁ\. poutres is at rank #18,024, tagged as anoun, pronounced \putʁ\.
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 41673, this pair ranks #231,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poires vs poutres
Shared letters: eoprs. Private to "poires": i. Private to "poutres": tu.
"poires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poutres" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poires" and "poutres" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "poires" vs "poutres" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poires" and "poutres" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poutres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #231,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poires" and "poutres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poilues vs poires". 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 #231,331 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.