Which to use
“poutou” and “poutre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,261
- “poutou” frequency rank
- #15,725
- “poutre” frequency rank
- 49986
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poutou | poutre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bisou. | Pièce de bois de forme allongée, servant dans les constructions à supporter une charpente ou un parquet. |
Where the eye mixes poutou and poutre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. poutou (CVVCVV) and poutre (CVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: poutou vs poutre
A purely visual mix-up. poutou (\pu.tu\) and poutre (\putʁ\) 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 49986, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poutou is recorded at frequency rank #34,261, classified as anoun, pronounced \pu.tu\. poutre is at rank #15,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced \putʁ\.
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 49986, this pair ranks #166,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poutou vs poutre
Shared letters: optu. Private to "poutou": -. Private to "poutre": er.
"poutou" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV · "poutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poutou" for "poutre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "poutou" or "poutre"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "poutou" and "poutre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poutou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poutre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poutou" and "poutre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pluto vs poutou". 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 #166,219 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.