Which to use
“pourcent” is a noun and “poussent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,429
- “pourcent” frequency rank
- #8,288
- “poussent” frequency rank
- 48717
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pourcent | poussent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie sur cent. Le symbole est ‹ % ›. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de pousser. |
Where the eye mixes pourcent and poussent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pourcent vs poussent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pourcent is \puʁ.sɑ̃\ while poussent is \pus\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48717, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pourcent is recorded at frequency rank #40,429, classified as anoun, pronounced \puʁ.sɑ̃\. poussent is at rank #8,288, tagged as averb, pronounced \pus\.
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 48717, this pair ranks #176,592 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pourcent vs poussent
Shared letters: enoptu. Private to "pourcent": cr. Private to "poussent": s.
"pourcent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "poussent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pourcent" and "poussent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pourcent" vs "poussent" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pourcent" and "poussent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pourcent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poussent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,592 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pourcent" and "poussent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poucet vs pourcent". 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 #176,592 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.