Which to use
“poison” and “poissons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,216
- “poison” frequency rank
- #2,947
- “poissons” frequency rank
- 12163
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poison | poissons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Substance qui, introduite dans l’organisme, altère ou même détruit les fonctions vitales. | Pluriel de poisson. |
Where the eye mixes poison and poissons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. poison runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against poissons's 8 (CVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: poison vs poissons
A purely visual mix-up. poison (\pwa.zɔ̃\) and poissons (\pwa.sɔ̃\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12163, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poison is recorded at frequency rank #9,216, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwa.zɔ̃\. poissons is at rank #2,947, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa.sɔ̃\.
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 12163, this pair ranks #406,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poison vs poissons
Shared letters: inops. Private to "poison": -. Private to "poissons": -.
"poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poissons" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poison" for "poissons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poison" vs "poissons" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "poison" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poissons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poison" and "poissons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pinson vs poison". 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 #406,334 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.