Which to use
“poison” is a noun and “posons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,216
- “poison” frequency rank
- #31,188
- “posons” frequency rank
- 40404
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poison | posons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Substance qui, introduite dans l’organisme, altère ou même détruit les fonctions vitales. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de poser. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set poison and posons apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poison is \pwa.zɔ̃\ while posons is \po.zɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40404, 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\. posons is at rank #31,188, tagged as averb, pronounced \po.zɔ̃\.
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 40404, this pair ranks #240,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poison vs posons
Shared letters: nops. Private to "poison": i. Private to "posons": -.
"poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "posons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poison" and "posons" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "poison" or "posons"?
Remembering poison vs posons
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “poison”; for a verb, it's “posons”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “poison” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable