Which to use
“pouce” and “poules” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,388
- “pouce” frequency rank
- #7,882
- “poules” frequency rank
- 13270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pouce | poules |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le plus gros et court des doigts de la main, opposable aux autres. | Pluriel de poule. |
Where the eye mixes pouce and poules
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. pouce runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against poules's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pouce vs poules
A purely visual mix-up. pouce (\pus\) and poules (\pul\) 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 13270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pouce is recorded at frequency rank #5,388, classified as anoun, pronounced \pus\. poules is at rank #7,882, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pul\.
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 13270, this pair ranks #401,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pouce vs poules
Shared letters: eopu. Private to "pouce": c. Private to "poules": ls.
"pouce" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "poules" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pouce" and "poules" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pouce" vs "poules" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pouce" and "poules" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pouce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,725 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pouce" and "poules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poilues vs poules". 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 #401,725 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.