Which to use
“pouces” and “poulies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,126
- “pouces” frequency rank
- #40,932
- “poulies” frequency rank
- 47058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pouces | poulies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de pouce. | Pluriel de poulie. |
Where the eye mixes pouces and poulies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pouces vs poulies
A purely visual mix-up. pouces (\pus\) and poulies (\pu.li\) 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 47058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pouces is recorded at frequency rank #6,126, classified as anoun, pronounced \pus\. poulies is at rank #40,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.li\.
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 47058, this pair ranks #189,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pouces vs poulies
Shared letters: eopsu. Private to "pouces": c. Private to "poulies": il.
"pouces" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poulies" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pouces" for "poulies" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pouces" or "poulies"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pouces" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poulies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pouces" and "poulies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poulies vs pouliot". 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 #189,984 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.