Which to use
“pouls” and “poux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,870
- “pouls” frequency rank
- #19,111
- “poux” frequency rank
- 32981
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pouls | poux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Battement des artères, produit par le changement périodique de la pression sanguine, qui se fait sentir en plusieurs endroits du corps, et particulièrement vers le poignet. | Pluriel de pou. |
Same sound, different letters: pouls vs poux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters.
Homophone desk: pouls vs poux
This is the hard kind. pouls and poux are pronounced identically (\pu\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32981, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pouls is recorded at frequency rank #13,870, classified as anoun, pronounced \pu\. poux is at rank #19,111, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu\.
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 32981, this pair ranks #293,656 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pouls vs poux
Shared letters: opu. Private to "pouls": ls. Private to "poux": x.
"pouls" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC · "poux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pouls" for "poux" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pouls" vs "poux" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
"pouls" and "poux" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "pouls" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,656 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pouls" and "poux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pogo vs poux". 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 #293,656 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.