pousséevspoussetteTell them apart

Which to use

“poussée” and “poussette” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,802
“poussée” frequency rank
#20,245
“poussette” frequency rank
26047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poussée poussette
Definition Action de pousser. Nom de divers jeux d’enfants.

Where the eye mixes poussée and poussette

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. poussée runs 7 letters (CVVCCVV) against poussette's 9 (CVVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
poussée
9 ch
poussette

Why the eye confuses poussée with poussette

A purely visual mix-up. poussée (\pu.se\) and poussette (\pu.sɛt\) 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 26047, 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\. poussette is at rank #20,245, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.sɛt\.

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 26047, this pair ranks #337,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of poussée vs poussette

Shared letters: eopsu. Private to "poussée": é. Private to "poussette": t.

"poussée" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVV  ·  "poussette" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poussette ← opussette · posusette · pousestte · pousette · poussete · poussetet · pousstete · ppoussette

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poussée" and "poussette" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pu.se\ versus \pu.sɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "poussée" or "poussette"?
"poussée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,802 in our French list, against #20,245 for "poussette". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "poussée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poussette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #337,425 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poussée" and "poussette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poussette vs poussettes". 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 #337,425 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list