poussésvspoussinsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,213
“poussés” frequency rank
#23,318
“poussins” frequency rank
39531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poussés poussins
Definition Pluriel de poussé. Pluriel de poussin.

Where the eye mixes poussés and poussins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. poussés runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against poussins's 8 (CVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
poussés
8 ch
poussins

Look-alike desk: poussés vs poussins

A purely visual mix-up. poussés (\pu.se\) and poussins (\pu.sɛ̃\) 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 39531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poussés is recorded at frequency rank #16,213, classified as anoun, pronounced \pu.se\. poussins is at rank #23,318, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pu.sɛ̃\.

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 39531, this pair ranks #247,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poussés vs poussins

Shared letters: opsu. Private to "poussés": é. Private to "poussins": in.

"poussés" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC  ·  "poussins" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poussinsopussins · posusins · pousins · pousisns · poussinns · poussinss · poussisn · poussnis

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "poussés" and "poussins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pu.se\ versus \pu.sɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poussés" vs "poussins" - which ranks higher?
"poussés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,213 in our French list, against #23,318 for "poussins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poussés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poussins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #247,259 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poussés" and "poussins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poulains vs poussins". 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 #247,259 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