puesvspûtTell them apart

Which to use

“pues” and “pût” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,225
“pues” frequency rank
#36,553
“pût” frequency rank
71778
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pues pût
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de puer. Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait du subjonctif du verbe pouvoir.

Same sound, different letters: pues vs pût

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter.

4 ch
pues
3 ch
pût

Homophone desk: pues vs pût

This is the hard kind. pues and pût are pronounced identically (\py\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71778, 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\. pût is at rank #36,553, tagged as averb, 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 71778, this pair ranks #46,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pues vs pût

Shared letters: p. Private to "pues": esu. Private to "pût": .

"pues" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "pût" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • puespeus · ppues · puess · puse · upes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pues" and "pût" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\py\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "pues" vs "pût" - which ranks higher?
"pues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,225 in our French list, against #36,553 for "pût". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pût" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #46,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pues" and "pût" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pio vs pût". 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 #46,324 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list