Which to use
“poison” and “poivron” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,216
- “poison” frequency rank
- #39,942
- “poivron” frequency rank
- 49158
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poison | poivron |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Substance qui, introduite dans l’organisme, altère ou même détruit les fonctions vitales. | Plante annuelle de la famille des solanacées originaire d'Amérique du Sud et centrale, cultivée comme plante potagère pour ses fruits consommés, crus ou cuits, comme légumes. |
Where the eye mixes poison and poivron
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. poison runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against poivron's 7 (CVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poison with poivron
A purely visual mix-up. poison (\pwa.zɔ̃\) and poivron (\pwa.vʁɔ̃\) 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 49158, 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\. poivron is at rank #39,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pwa.vʁɔ̃\.
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 49158, this pair ranks #172,974 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poison vs poivron
Shared letters: inop. Private to "poison": s. Private to "poivron": rv.
"poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poivron" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poison" for "poivron" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "poison" or "poivron" show up more?
What to do next
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 "poivron" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,974 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poison" and "poivron" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poivron vs potiron". 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 #172,974 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.