Which to use
“pousse” and “poussée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,793
- “pousse” frequency rank
- #5,802
- “poussée” frequency rank
- 8595
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pousse | poussée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de pousser, croissance, développement de ce qui pousse. | Action de pousser. |
Where the eye mixes pousse and poussée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pousse and poussée
A purely visual mix-up. pousse (\pus\) and poussée (\pu.se\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pousse is recorded at frequency rank #2,793, classified as anoun, pronounced \pus\. poussée is at rank #5,802, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.se\.
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 8595, this pair ranks #419,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pousse vs poussée
Shared letters: eopsu. Private to "pousse": -. Private to "poussée": é.
"pousse" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV · "poussée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pousse ← opusse · posuse · pouse · pouses · ppousse · puosse
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pousse" and "poussée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "pousse" vs "poussée" - 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 "pousse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poussée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,500 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pousse" and "poussée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potasse vs pousse". 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 #419,500 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.