Which to use
“poisons” and “prions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,912
- “poisons” frequency rank
- #15,466
- “prions” frequency rank
- 45378
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poisons | prions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de poison. | Pluriel de prion. |
Where the eye mixes poisons and prions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. poisons runs 7 letters (CVVCVCC) against prions's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: poisons vs prions
A purely visual mix-up. poisons (\pwa.zɔ̃\) and prions (\pʁi.jɔ̃\) 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 45378, 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\. prions is at rank #15,466, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁi.jɔ̃\.
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 45378, this pair ranks #203,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poisons vs prions
Shared letters: inops. Private to "poisons": -. Private to "prions": r.
"poisons" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC · "prions" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poisons" and "prions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poisons" or "prions"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poisons" and "prions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poisons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #203,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poisons" and "prions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poisons vs potions". 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 #203,147 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.