Which to use
“repoussée” is an adjective and “repousser” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,307
- “repoussée” frequency rank
- #7,492
- “repousser” frequency rank
- 25799
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | repoussée | repousser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de repoussé. | Pousser en arrière, rejeter ; faire reculer quelqu’un, écarter de soi quelque chose. |
Same sound, different letters: repoussée vs repousser
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. repoussée (CVCVVCCVV) and repousser (CVCVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Ear matches; page differs - repoussée and repousser
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: repoussée and repousser carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁə.pu.se\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25799, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
repoussée is recorded at frequency rank #18,307, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁə.pu.se\. repousser is at rank #7,492, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁə.pu.se\.
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 25799, this pair ranks #338,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of repoussée vs repousser
Shared letters: eoprsu. Private to "repoussée": é. Private to "repousser": -.
"repoussée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVV · "repousser" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- repousser ← erpousser · reopusser · reposuser · repouser · repousesr · repousserr · repoussre · reppousser
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "repoussée" for "repousser" ever safe?
Which is more common, "repoussée" or "repousser"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "repoussée" / "repousser". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "repoussée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "repousser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "repoussée" and "repousser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rehaussée vs repoussée". 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 #338,784 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.