Which to use
“potins” and “putains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,124
- “potins” frequency rank
- #10,056
- “putains” frequency rank
- 42180
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | potins | putains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de potin. | Pluriel de putain. |
Where the eye mixes potins and putains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. potins runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against putains's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses potins with putains
A purely visual mix-up. potins (\pɔ.tɛ̃\) and putains (\py.tɛ̃\) 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 42180, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
potins is recorded at frequency rank #32,124, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.tɛ̃\. putains is at rank #10,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced \py.tɛ̃\.
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 42180, this pair ranks #227,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of potins vs putains
Shared letters: inpst. Private to "potins": o. Private to "putains": au.
"potins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "putains" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "potins" and "putains" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "potins" vs "putains" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "potins" and "putains" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "potins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "putains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #227,611 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "potins" and "putains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potiers vs potins". 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 #227,611 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.