Which to use
“près” is an adverb and “pus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #294
- “près” frequency rank
- #13,881
- “pus” frequency rank
- 14175
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | près | pus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | À petite distance, à proximité. | Matière liquide, épaisse, blanchâtre, qui se forme dans les abcès, qui sort des plaies et des ulcères. |
Where the eye mixes près and pus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between près and pus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: près is \pʁɛ\ while pus is \py\. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
près is recorded at frequency rank #294, classified as anadv, pronounced \pʁɛ\. pus is at rank #13,881, tagged as anoun, pronounced \py\.
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 14175, this pair ranks #397,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of près vs pus
Shared letters: ps. Private to "près": rè. Private to "pus": u.
"près" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "pus" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "près" and "pus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "près" vs "pus" - which ranks higher?
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 "près" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "près" and "pus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pus". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #397,839 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.