pauvre
\povʁ\
The verdict
“pauvre” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #1,205 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #1,205
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 8
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui est dans la pauvreté ; qui ne dispose pas de ressources suffisantes.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | pauvre |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \povʁ\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #1,205 |
| Misspellings tracked | 8 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “pauvre” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for pauvre is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \povʁ\. Corpus data places it at rank #1,205 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 8 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for pauvre, with forms such as "apuvre", "paurve", and "pauver". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "pure", "pavé", "pavie", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is pauvre, spelled P-A-U-V-R-E.
Definition
- 1Qui est dans la pauvreté ; qui ne dispose pas de ressources suffisantes.
- 2Qui dénote la pauvreté.
- 3Qui ne renferme, ne dispose que de peu de quelque chose.
- 4Qui inspire la pitié, la compassion.
- 5Qui inspire la pitié, la compassion.
- 6Qui inspire le mépris.
- 7Mort, décédé.
- 8Sans variété ; sans subtilité.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apuvre,paurve,pauver,pauvrre,pauvvre,pavure,ppauvre,puavre
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pauvre - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "pauvre"?
What does "pauvre" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "pauvre"?
How do you pronounce "pauvre"?
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Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “pauvre”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-A-U-V-R-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \povʁ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “pure” - see the side-by-side comparison. pauvre vs pure
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.