Which to use
“poisons” is a noun and “posons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,912
- “poisons” frequency rank
- #31,188
- “posons” frequency rank
- 61100
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poisons | posons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poison. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de poser. |
Where the eye mixes poisons and posons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between poisons and posons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poisons is \pwa.zɔ̃\ while posons is \po.zɔ̃\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poisons is recorded at frequency rank #29,912, 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 61100, this pair ranks #94,075 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of poisons vs posons
Shared letters: nops. Private to "poisons": i. Private to "posons": -.
"poisons" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "posons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poisons" for "posons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "poisons" vs "posons" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "poisons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #94,075 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poisons" and "posons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "posons vs protons". 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 #94,075 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.