potesvspotterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“potes” and “potter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,488
“potes” frequency rank
#8,014
“potter” frequency rank
11502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature potes potter
Definition Pluriel de pote. Potier.

Where the eye mixes potes and potter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
potes
6 ch
potter

Why the eye confuses potes with potter

A purely visual mix-up. potes (\pɔt\) and potter (\ˈpɒt.əʳ\) 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 11502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

potes is recorded at frequency rank #3,488, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔt\. potter is at rank #8,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈpɒt.əʳ\.

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 11502, this pair ranks #408,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of potes vs potter

Shared letters: eopt. Private to "potes": s. Private to "potter": r.

"potes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "potter" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potesoptes · poets · potess · pottes · ppotes · ptoes
  • potteroptter · poter · potetr · potterr · pottre · ppotter · ptoter

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "potes" for "potter" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pɔt\ versus \ˈpɒt.əʳ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "potes" or "potter"?
"potes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,488 in our French list, against #8,014 for "potter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "potes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "potter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #408,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "potes" and "potter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pontet vs potter". 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 #408,897 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