Which to use
“pond” is a verb and “ponts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,316
- “pond” frequency rank
- #4,600
- “ponts” frequency rank
- 27916
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pond | ponts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne de l’indicatif présent du verbe pondre. | Pluriel de pont. |
Same sound, different letters: pond vs ponts
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. pond runs 4 letters (CVCC) against ponts's 5 (CVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - pond / ponts
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: pond and ponts carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pɔ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27916, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pond is recorded at frequency rank #23,316, classified as averb, pronounced \pɔ̃\. 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 27916, this pair ranks #325,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pond vs ponts
Shared letters: nop. Private to "pond": d. Private to "ponts": st.
"pond" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "ponts" · 5 letters · shape CVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pond" for "ponts" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pond" or "ponts" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "pond" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ponts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #325,978 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pond" and "ponts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pogo vs pond". 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 #325,978 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.