Which to use
“poussée” is a noun and “pousser” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,802
- “poussée” frequency rank
- #2,892
- “pousser” frequency rank
- 8694
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poussée | pousser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de pousser. | Faire pression contre quelqu’un ou contre quelque chose, pour le déplacer ou l’ôter de sa place. |
Same sound, different letters: poussée vs pousser
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Homophone desk: poussée vs pousser
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: poussée and pousser carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pu.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8694, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poussée is recorded at frequency rank #5,802, classified as anoun, pronounced \pu.se\. pousser is at rank #2,892, tagged as averb, 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 8694, this pair ranks #419,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poussée vs pousser
Shared letters: eopsu. Private to "poussée": é. Private to "pousser": r.
"poussée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV · "pousser" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pousser ← opusser · posuser · pouser · pousesr · pousserr · poussre · ppousser · puosser
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poussée" and "pousser" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "poussée" or "pousser" show up more?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "poussée" / "pousser". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "poussée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pousser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #419,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poussée" and "pousser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poussée vs poussera". 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 #419,146 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.