Which to use
“posais” and “posons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,477
- “posais” frequency rank
- #31,188
- “posons” frequency rank
- 57665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | posais | posons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de poser. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de poser. |
Where the eye mixes posais and posons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. posais (CVCVVC) and posons (CVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between posais and posons
A purely visual mix-up. posais (\po.zɛ\) and posons (\po.zɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
posais is recorded at frequency rank #26,477, classified as averb, pronounced \po.zɛ\. posons is at rank #31,188, tagged as averb, pronounced \po.zɔ̃\.
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 57665, this pair ranks #113,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of posais vs posons
Shared letters: ops. Private to "posais": ai. Private to "posons": n.
"posais" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "posons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "posais" for "posons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "posais" vs "posons" - which ranks higher?
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 "posais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "posons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,653 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "posais" and "posons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Polaris vs posais". 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 #113,653 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.