Which to use
“pues” is a verb and “puits” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,225
- “pues” frequency rank
- #5,282
- “puits” frequency rank
- 40507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pues | puits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de puer. | Trou qui s’enfonce dans le sol pour tirer de l’eau, du pétrole, du gaz naturel, ou tout autre fluide qui se trouve en profondeur. |
Where the eye mixes pues and puits
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. pues runs 4 letters (CVVC) against puits's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pues and puits
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pues is \py\ while puits is \pɥi\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pues is recorded at frequency rank #35,225, classified as averb, pronounced \py\. puits is at rank #5,282, tagged as anoun, 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 40507, this pair ranks #239,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pues vs puits
Shared letters: psu. Private to "pues": e. Private to "puits": it.
"pues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "puits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pues" for "puits" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pues" or "puits" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "puits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pues" and "puits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs pues". 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 #239,962 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.