Which to use
“poulie” and “poutre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,537
- “poulie” frequency rank
- #15,725
- “poutre” frequency rank
- 52262
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poulie | poutre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Accessoire formé d’une roue avec ou sans gorge, crantée ou non, rainurée ou non,tournant sur un axe et permettant sur sa jante le déplacement ou le renvoi d'une corde, d'un câble, d'une chaîne ou d'une courroie. | Pièce de bois de forme allongée, servant dans les constructions à supporter une charpente ou un parquet. |
Where the eye mixes poulie and poutre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. poulie (CVVCVV) and poutre (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between poulie and poutre
A purely visual mix-up. poulie (\pu.li\) and poutre (\putʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poulie is recorded at frequency rank #36,537, classified as anoun, pronounced \pu.li\. poutre is at rank #15,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced \putʁ\.
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 52262, this pair ranks #148,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poulie vs poutre
Shared letters: eopu. Private to "poulie": il. Private to "poutre": rt.
"poulie" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "poutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poulie" and "poutre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "poulie" or "poutre"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poulie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poutre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #148,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poulie" and "poutre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poulie 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 #148,928 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.