Which to use
“potage” and “potasse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,651
- “potage” frequency rank
- #42,536
- “potasse” frequency rank
- 78187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | potage | potasse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aliment demi-liquide, fait de bouillon et de tranches de pain ou de diverses substances alimentaires, légumes, pâtes, etc. | Potasse caustique ; matière solide, blanche, très caustique, soluble dans l’eau. Hydroxyde de potassium (KOH). |
Where the eye mixes potage and potasse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. potage runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against potasse's 7 (CVCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses potage with potasse
A purely visual mix-up. potage (\pɔ.taʒ\) and potasse (\pɔ.tas\) 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 78187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
potage is recorded at frequency rank #35,651, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.taʒ\. potasse is at rank #42,536, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.tas\.
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 78187, this pair ranks #26,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of potage vs potasse
Shared letters: aeopt. Private to "potage": g. Private to "potasse": s.
"potage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "potasse" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "potage" and "potasse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "potage" or "potasse" 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 "potage" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potasse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #26,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "potage" and "potasse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potache vs potasse". 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 #26,400 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.