potsvsptsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,442
“pots” frequency rank
#13,041
“pts” frequency rank
21483
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pots pts
Definition Pluriel de pot. Pluriel de pᵗ.

Where the eye mixes pots and pts

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pots
3 ch
pts

Why the eye confuses pots with pts

A purely visual mix-up. pots (\po\) and pts (\pɔ̃\) 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 21483, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pots is recorded at frequency rank #8,442, classified as anoun, pronounced \po\. pts is at rank #13,041, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ̃\.

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 21483, this pair ranks #362,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pots vs pts

Shared letters: pst. Private to "pots": o. Private to "pts": -.

"pots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "pts" · 3 letters · shape CCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • potsopts · potss · potts · ppots · ptos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pots" and "pts" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\po\ versus \pɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pots" vs "pts" - which ranks higher?
"pots" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,442 in our French list, against #13,041 for "pts". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pots" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,944 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pots" and "pts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pts". 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 #362,944 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