Which to use
“posons” is a verb and “potions” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,188
- “posons” frequency rank
- #36,105
- “potions” frequency rank
- 67293
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | posons | potions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de poser. | Pluriel de potion. |
Where the eye mixes posons and potions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. posons runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against potions's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between posons and potions
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: posons is \po.zɔ̃\ while potions is \pɔ.sjɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
posons is recorded at frequency rank #31,188, classified as averb, pronounced \po.zɔ̃\. potions is at rank #36,105, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.sjɔ̃\.
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 67293, this pair ranks #64,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of posons vs potions
Shared letters: nops. Private to "posons": -. Private to "potions": it.
"posons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "potions" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "posons" for "potions" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "posons" or "potions" show up more?
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 "posons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #64,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "posons" and "potions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potiers vs potions". 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 #64,035 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.