Which to use
“pu” is a verb and “puis” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #307
- “pu” frequency rank
- #172
- “puis” frequency rank
- 479
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pu | puis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe pouvoir. | (adverbe de temps) Permet l’enchaînement chronologique d’évènements. |
Where the eye mixes pu and puis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between pu and puis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pu is \py\ while puis is \pɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “pu” sits inside “puis”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 479, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pu is recorded at frequency rank #307, classified as averb, pronounced \py\. puis is at rank #172, tagged as anadv, pronounced \pɥi\.
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 479, this pair ranks #439,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pu vs puis
Shared letters: pu. Private to "pu": -. Private to "puis": is.
"pu" · 2 letters · shape CV · "puis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- puis ← pius · ppuis · puiss · pusi · upis
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pu" and "puis" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "pu" or "puis"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "pu" and "puis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pu" and "puis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pu". 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 #439,575 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.