Which to use
“potence” and “poterie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,532
- “potence” frequency rank
- #21,117
- “poterie” frequency rank
- 53649
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | potence | poterie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Assemblage de trois pièces de bois ou de fer, dont une est dressée verticalement, une autre est posée horizontalement sur la première, et la troisième soutient l’extrémité de celle-ci. | Artisanat basé sur le travail de l’argile, pour la constitution de pots et d’objets d’art. |
Where the eye mixes potence and poterie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. potence (CVCVCCV) and poterie (CVCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: potence vs poterie
A purely visual mix-up. potence (\pɔ.tɑ̃s\) and poterie (\pɔ.tʁi\) 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 53649, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
potence is recorded at frequency rank #32,532, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.tɑ̃s\. poterie is at rank #21,117, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.tʁi\.
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 53649, this pair ranks #139,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of potence vs poterie
Shared letters: eopt. Private to "potence": cn. Private to "poterie": ir.
"potence" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "poterie" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "potence" and "poterie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "potence" vs "poterie" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "potence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poterie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #139,317 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "potence" and "poterie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "patente vs potence". 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 #139,317 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.