Which to use
“pois” is a noun and “por” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,891
- “pois” frequency rank
- #15,213
- “por” frequency rank
- 25104
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pois | por |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chacune des graines, de forme ronde, et enfermées dans une cosse verte, d’une espèce de fabacée (légumineuse) papilionacée. | Mais. |
Where the eye mixes pois and por
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pois with por
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pois is \pwa\ while por is \ˈpɔr\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pois is recorded at frequency rank #9,891, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwa\. por is at rank #15,213, tagged as aconj, pronounced \ˈpɔr\.
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 25104, this pair ranks #342,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pois vs por
Shared letters: op. Private to "pois": is. Private to "por": r.
"pois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "por" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pois ← opis · pios · poiss · posi · ppois
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pois" for "por" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pois" or "por" 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 "pois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "por" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,792 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pois" and "por" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs por". 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 #342,792 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.