puitvspuitsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#41,476
“puit” frequency rank
#5,282
“puits” frequency rank
46758
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature puit puits
Definition Variante orthographique de puits. 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 spellings diverge

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

4 ch
puit
5 ch
puits

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. puit and puits are pronounced identically (\pɥi\) and both work as anoun. 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 extra letter(s) - “puit” sits inside “puits”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

puit is recorded at frequency rank #41,476, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɥi\. 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 46758, this pair ranks #192,332 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of puit vs puits

Shared letters: iptu. Private to "puit": -. Private to "puits": s.

"puit" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "puits" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • puitpiut · ppuit · puitt · puti · upit
  • puitspiuts · ppuits · puist · puitss · puitts · putis · upits

Frequency comparison

puit#41,476
puits#5,282

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "puit" and "puits" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pɥi\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "puit" or "puits"?
"puits" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,282 in our French list, against #41,476 for "puit". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering puit vs puits

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “puit” 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