poixvsponConfusable pair

Which to use

“poix” and “pon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#38,482
“poix” frequency rank
#43,075
“pon” frequency rank
81557
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poix pon
Definition Matière résineuse gluante et noire qui s’obtient par la distillation des bois résineux de pins ou de sapins. Pont.

Letter map: poix vs pon

Shared letters muted; letters that set poix and pon apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. poix runs 4 letters (CVVC) against pon's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
poix
3 ch
pon

Corpus notes: poix and pon

poix and pon are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81557, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poix is recorded at frequency rank #38,482, classified as anoun, pronounced \pwa\. pon is at rank #43,075, tagged as anoun.

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 81557, this pair ranks #18,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poix vs pon

Shared letters: op. Private to "poix": ix. Private to "pon": n.

"poix" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "pon" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poixopix · piox · poixx · poxi · ppoix

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poix" and "pon" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "poix" vs "pon" - which ranks higher?
"poix" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,482 in our French list, against #43,075 for "pon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've compared "poix" and "pon". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poix" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #18,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poix" and "pon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pon". 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 #18,505 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list