poux vs proud, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“poux” is a noun and “proud” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19,111
“poux” frequency rank: #45,806
“proud” frequency rank: 64917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	poux	proud
Definition	Pluriel de pou.	Fier.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set poux and proud apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

poux

5 ch

proud

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poux is \pu\ while proud is \pɹaʊd\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poux is recorded at frequency rank #19,111, classified as anoun, pronounced \pu\. proud is at rank #45,806, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɹaʊd\.

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 64917, this pair ranks #74,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poux vs proud

Shared letters: opu. Private to "poux": x. Private to "proud": dr.

"poux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "proud" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

poux ← opux · pouxx · poxu · ppoux · puox
proud ← porud · pproud · produ · proudd · prroud · pruod · rpoud

Frequency comparison

poux#19,111

proud#45,806

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poux" and "proud" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "poux" is a noun and "proud" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "poux" or "proud"?

"poux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,111 in our French list, against #45,806 for "proud". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering poux vs proud

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “poux”; for an adjective, it's “proud”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “poux” entry
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