potiersvspotionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#48,726
“potiers” frequency rank
#36,105
“potions” frequency rank
84831
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature potiers potions
Definition Pluriel de potier. Pluriel de potion.

Where the eye mixes potiers and potions

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
potiers
7 ch
potions

Visual trap between potiers and potions

A purely visual mix-up. potiers (\po.tje\) and potions (\pɔ.sjɔ̃\) 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 84831, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

potiers is recorded at frequency rank #48,726, classified as anoun, pronounced \po.tje\. 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 84831, this pair ranks #12,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of potiers vs potions

Shared letters: iopst. Private to "potiers": er. Private to "potions": n.

"potiers" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "potions" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potiersoptiers · poiters · poteirs · potierrs · potierss · potiesr · potires · pottiers
  • potionspoitons · potinos · potionns · potionss · potiosn · potoins · pottions · ppotions

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "potiers" for "potions" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\po.tje\ versus \pɔ.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "potiers" or "potions"?
"potions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,105 in our French list, against #48,726 for "potiers". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "potiers" 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 #12,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "potiers" and "potions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pamiers vs potiers". 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 #12,305 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