Which to use
“pourtant” is an adverb and “poussant” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #522
- “pourtant” frequency rank
- #11,639
- “poussant” frequency rank
- 12161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pourtant | poussant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Néanmoins ; cependant ; malgré cela. | Participe présent de pousser. |
Where the eye mixes pourtant and poussant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pourtant and poussant follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pourtant with poussant
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pourtant is \puʁ.tɑ̃\ while poussant is \pu.sɑ̃\. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pourtant is recorded at frequency rank #522, classified as anadv, pronounced \puʁ.tɑ̃\. poussant is at rank #11,639, tagged as averb, pronounced \pu.sɑ̃\.
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 12161, this pair ranks #406,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pourtant vs poussant
Shared letters: anoptu. Private to "pourtant": r. Private to "poussant": s.
"pourtant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "poussant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pourtant" and "poussant" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "pourtant" vs "poussant" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pourtant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poussant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,342 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pourtant" and "poussant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poussaient vs poussant". 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 #406,342 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.