Which to use
“poussent” and “puissent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,288
- “poussent” frequency rank
- #3,033
- “puissent” frequency rank
- 11321
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poussent | puissent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de pousser. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent du subjonctif de pouvoir. |
Where the eye mixes poussent and puissent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. poussent and puissent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: poussent vs puissent
A purely visual mix-up. poussent (\pus\) and puissent (\pɥis\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11321, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poussent is recorded at frequency rank #8,288, classified as averb, pronounced \pus\. puissent is at rank #3,033, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɥis\.
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 11321, this pair ranks #409,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of poussent vs puissent
Shared letters: enpstu. Private to "poussent": o. Private to "puissent": i.
"poussent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC · "puissent" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "poussent" and "puissent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "poussent" or "puissent" 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 "poussent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puissent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #409,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poussent" and "puissent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poussent vs puisent". 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 #409,605 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.