puisvsputoisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: puis is a adverb, putois is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“puis” is an adverb and “putois” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#172
“puis” frequency rank
#46,379
“putois” frequency rank
46551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature puis putois
Definition (adverbe de temps) Permet l’enchaînement chronologique d’évènements. Petit quadrupède carnivore dont la peau sert à faire des fourrures, possédant une glande libérant une puanteur en cas de peur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set puis and putois apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
puis
6 ch
putois

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: puis is \pɥi\ while putois is \py.twa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 46551, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

puis is recorded at frequency rank #172, classified as anadv, pronounced \pɥi\. putois is at rank #46,379, tagged as anoun, pronounced \py.twa\.

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 46551, this pair ranks #194,019 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of puis vs putois

Shared letters: ipsu. Private to "puis": -. Private to "putois": ot.

"puis" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "putois" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • puispius · ppuis · puiss · pusi · upis
  • putoispputois · ptuois · puotis · putios · putoiss · putosi · puttois · uptois

Frequency comparison

puis#172
putois#46,379

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "puis" and "putois" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "puis" is an adverb and "putois" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "puis" or "putois"?
"puis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #172 in our French list, against #46,379 for "putois". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering puis vs putois

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “puis”; for a noun, it's “putois”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “puis” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list