Which to use
“poussaient” and “poussait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,464
- “poussaient” frequency rank
- #22,980
- “poussait” frequency rank
- 62444
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poussaient | poussait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de pousser. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de pousser. |
Same sound, different letters: poussaient vs poussait
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. poussaient runs 10 letters (CVVCCVVVCC) against poussait's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - poussaient / poussait
This is the hard kind. poussaient and poussait are pronounced identically (\pu.sɛ\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poussaient is recorded at frequency rank #39,464, classified as averb, pronounced \pu.sɛ\. poussait is at rank #22,980, tagged as averb, pronounced \pu.sɛ\.
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 62444, this pair ranks #87,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of poussaient vs poussait
Shared letters: aiopstu. Private to "poussaient": en. Private to "poussait": -.
"poussaient" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVVCC · "poussait" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poussaient ← opussaient · posusaient · pousaient · pousasient · poussaeint · poussaiennt · poussaientt · poussaietn
- poussait ← opussait · posusait · pousait · pousasit · poussaitt · poussati · poussiat · ppoussait
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poussaient" and "poussait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "poussaient" vs "poussait" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"poussaient" and "poussait" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "poussaient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poussait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,116 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poussaient" and "poussait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poucet vs poussaient". 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 #87,116 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.