Which to use
“pots” and “puits” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,442
- “pots” frequency rank
- #5,282
- “puits” frequency rank
- 13724
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pots | puits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pot. | Trou qui s’enfonce dans le sol pour tirer de l’eau, du pétrole, du gaz naturel, ou tout autre fluide qui se trouve en profondeur. |
Where the eye mixes pots and puits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pots with puits
A purely visual mix-up. pots (\po\) and puits (\pɥi\) 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 13724, 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\. puits is at rank #5,282, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɥi\.
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 13724, this pair ranks #399,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pots vs puits
Shared letters: pst. Private to "pots": o. Private to "puits": iu.
"pots" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "puits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pots" and "puits" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pots" or "puits" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pots" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,804 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pots" and "puits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pivots vs pots". 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 #399,804 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.