Which to use
“poison” and “potion” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,216
- “poison” frequency rank
- #20,243
- “potion” frequency rank
- 29459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poison | potion |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Substance qui, introduite dans l’organisme, altère ou même détruit les fonctions vitales. | Remède liquide, que l’on administre généralement par cuillerées. |
Where the eye mixes poison and potion
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between poison and potion
A purely visual mix-up. poison (\pwa.zɔ̃\) and potion (\pɔ.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29459, 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\. potion is at rank #20,243, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.sjɔ̃\.
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 29459, this pair ranks #316,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poison vs potion
Shared letters: inop. Private to "poison": s. Private to "potion": t.
"poison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "potion" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poison" and "potion" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "poison" vs "potion" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poison" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potion" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,536 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poison" and "potion" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potion 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 #316,536 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.