Which to use
“poussait” and “pousserait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,980
- “poussait” frequency rank
- #46,364
- “pousserait” frequency rank
- 69344
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poussait | pousserait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de pousser. | Troisième personne du singulier du conditionnel présent de pousser. |
Where the eye mixes poussait and pousserait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. poussait runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against pousserait's 10 (CVVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between poussait and pousserait
A purely visual mix-up. poussait (\pu.sɛ\) and pousserait (\pu.sə.ʁɛ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69344, 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\. pousserait is at rank #46,364, tagged as averb, pronounced \pu.sə.ʁɛ\.
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 69344, this pair ranks #55,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of poussait vs pousserait
Shared letters: aiopstu. Private to "poussait": -. Private to "pousserait": er.
"poussait" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "pousserait" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poussait ← opussait · posusait · pousait · pousasit · poussaitt · poussati · poussiat · ppoussait
- pousserait ← opusserait · posuserait · pouserait · pousesrait · poussearit · pousseraitt · pousserati · pousseriat
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poussait" and "pousserait" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "poussait" or "pousserait" show up more?
What to do next
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 "pousserait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #55,505 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poussait" and "pousserait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poserait 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 #55,505 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.