Which to use
“poudre” and “poule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,269
- “poudre” frequency rank
- #4,602
- “poule” frequency rank
- 8871
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poudre | poule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poussière. | Femelle du coq. |
Where the eye mixes poudre and poule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between poudre and poule
A purely visual mix-up. poudre (\pudʁ\) and poule (\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 8871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poudre is recorded at frequency rank #4,269, classified as anoun, pronounced \pudʁ\. poule is at rank #4,602, 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 8871, this pair ranks #418,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poudre vs poule
Shared letters: eopu. Private to "poudre": dr. Private to "poule": l.
"poudre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "poule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poudre" for "poule" ever safe?
Which is more common, "poudre" or "poule"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poudre" and "poule" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poudre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poudre" and "poule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pécule vs poule". 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 #418,587 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.