posonsvspoumonsConfusable pair

Quick tell: posons is a verb, poumons is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“posons” is a verb and “poumons” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#31,188
“posons” frequency rank
#9,217
“poumons” frequency rank
40405
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature posons poumons
Definition Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de poser. Pluriel de poumon.

Where the eye mixes posons and poumons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. posons runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against poumons's 7 (CVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
posons
7 ch
poumons

Look-alike desk: posons vs poumons

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: posons is \po.zɔ̃\ while poumons is \pu.mɔ̃\. 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 40405, 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\. poumons is at rank #9,217, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.mɔ̃\.

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 40405, this pair ranks #240,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of posons vs poumons

Shared letters: nops. Private to "posons": -. Private to "poumons": mu.

"posons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC  ·  "poumons" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • posonsopsons · poosns · posnos · posonns · posonss · pososn · possons · pposons
  • poumonsopumons · pomuons · poummons · poumnos · poumonns · poumonss · poumosn · pouomns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "posons" for "poumons" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "posons" is a verb and "poumons" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "posons" vs "poumons" - which ranks higher?
"poumons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,217 in our French list, against #31,188 for "posons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "posons" and "poumons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "posons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poumons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #240,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "posons" and "poumons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "posons vs protons". 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 #240,764 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