Which to use
“poussait” and “poussant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,980
- “poussait” frequency rank
- #11,639
- “poussant” frequency rank
- 34619
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poussait | poussant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de pousser. | Participe présent de pousser. |
Where the eye mixes poussait and poussant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. poussait (CVVCCVVC) and poussant (CVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: poussait vs poussant
A purely visual mix-up. poussait (\pu.sɛ\) and poussant (\pu.sɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - i in “poussait” becomes n in “poussant”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34619, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poussait is recorded at frequency rank #22,980, classified as averb, pronounced \pu.sɛ\. 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 34619, this pair ranks #282,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poussait vs poussant
Shared letters: aopstu. Private to "poussait": i. Private to "poussant": n.
"poussait" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "poussant" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poussait" and "poussant" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "poussait" vs "poussant" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "poussait" 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 #282,550 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poussait" and "poussant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poussait vs pousserait". 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 #282,550 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.