ponvspontsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,075
“pon” frequency rank
#4,600
“ponts” frequency rank
47675
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pon ponts
Definition Pont. Pluriel de pont.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pon and ponts apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pon
5 ch
ponts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

pon and ponts 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pon” sits inside “ponts”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47675, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pon is recorded at frequency rank #43,075, classified as anoun. ponts is at rank #4,600, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ̃\.

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 47675, this pair ranks #185,057 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pon vs ponts

Shared letters: nop. Private to "pon": -. Private to "ponts": st.

"pon" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "ponts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pontsopnts · pnots · ponnts · ponst · pontss · pontts · potns · pponts

Frequency comparison

pon#43,075
ponts#4,600

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pon" and "ponts" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “pon” sits inside “ponts”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "pon" or "ponts"?
"ponts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,600 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.

Remembering pon vs ponts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pon” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list