Which to use
“pursuant” is an adjective and “pursuit” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,793
- “pursuant” frequency rank
- #5,906
- “pursuit” frequency rank
- 19699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pursuant | pursuit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | In conformance to, or in agreement with; used with to. | The act of pursuing. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pursuant and pursuit apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
pursuant and pursuit form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pursuant is recorded at frequency rank #13,793, classified as anadj, pronounced /pəˈsjuː.ənt/. pursuit is at rank #5,906, tagged as anoun, pronounced /pə(ɹ)ˈsjuːt/.
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 19699, this pair ranks #436,357 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "pursuant" and "pursuit" be used interchangeably?
Remembering pursuant vs pursuit
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “pursuant”; for a noun, it's “pursuit”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pursuant” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable