Which to use
“poussées” is an adjective and “poussent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,705
- “poussées” frequency rank
- #8,288
- “poussent” frequency rank
- 24993
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poussées | poussent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de poussé. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de pousser. |
Where the eye mixes poussées and poussent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. poussées (CVVCCVVC) and poussent (CVVCCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses poussées with poussent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poussées is \pu.se\ while poussent is \pus\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24993, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poussées is recorded at frequency rank #16,705, classified as anadj, pronounced \pu.se\. poussent is at rank #8,288, tagged as averb, pronounced \pus\.
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 24993, this pair ranks #343,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poussées vs poussent
Shared letters: eopsu. Private to "poussées": é. Private to "poussent": nt.
"poussées" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "poussent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- poussent ← opussent · posusent · pousent · pousesnt · poussennt · poussentt · poussetn · poussnet
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poussées" for "poussent" ever safe?
Which is more common, "poussées" or "poussent"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "poussées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poussent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poussées" and "poussent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poussées vs pressées". 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 #343,401 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.