porositévsprobitéConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#38,983
“porosité” frequency rank
#22,985
“probité” frequency rank
61968
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature porosité probité
Definition Qualité d’un corps considéré comme poreux. Qualité d’une personne probe.

Where the eye mixes porosité and probité

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. porosité runs 8 letters (CVCVCVCV) against probité's 7 (CCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
porosité
7 ch
probité

Visual trap between porosité and probité

A purely visual mix-up. porosité (\po.ʁo.zi.te\) and probité (\pʁɔ.bi.te\) 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 61968, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

porosité is recorded at frequency rank #38,983, classified as anoun, pronounced \po.ʁo.zi.te\. probité is at rank #22,985, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.bi.te\.

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 61968, this pair ranks #89,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of porosité vs probité

Shared letters: ioprté. Private to "porosité": s. Private to "probité": b.

"porosité" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "probité" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "porosité" and "probité" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\po.ʁo.zi.te\ versus \pʁɔ.bi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "porosité" vs "probité" - which ranks higher?
"probité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,985 in our French list, against #38,983 for "porosité". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "porosité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "probité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #89,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "porosité" and "probité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pilosité vs porosité". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #89,519 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