pourvoir

\puʁ.vwaʁ\

/\puʁ.vwaʁ\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“pourvoir” has 11 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,601. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,601
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
11
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Prendre des dispositions pour quelque chose, y aviser, y donner ordre, suppléer à ce qui manque.

Corpus desk

Index FR-pourvoir · pourvoir · French

pourvoir · rank #8,601 · 11 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,601
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 11 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH possédait

Nearest frequency peer: possédait (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « pourvoir »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « pourvoir » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

pourvoir vs pouvoir
88% similar
pourvoir vs pouvoirs
75% similar
pourvoir vs pourrir
75% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for pourvoir
PropertyValue
Headwordpourvoir
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\puʁ.vwaʁ\
Letters8
Frequency rank#8,601
Misspellings tracked11
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « pourvoir »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).pourvoirse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « possédait » (#8,600), « poètes » (#8,602), « portables » (#8,599). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « pourvoir » est au #8,601. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 11 spelling variants around pourvoir (IPA \puʁ.vwaʁ\), averb. Corpus frequency is #8,601 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for pourvoir, with forms such as "opurvoir", "poruvoir", and "pourovir". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "pouvoir", "pouvoirs", "pourrir", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is pourvoir, spelled P-O-U-R-V-O-I-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Prendre des dispositions pour quelque chose, y aviser, y donner ordre, suppléer à ce qui manque.
  2. 2
    Munir ; garnir ; fournir.
  3. 3
    Investir, en parlant de bénéfices, d’offices, d’emplois.
  4. 4
    Orner, doter.
  5. 5
    Établir dans la vie par un mariage, par un emploi, etc.
  6. 6
    Intenter une action devant un juge, recourir à un tribunal, à une autorité ; faire appel.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how pourvoir appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. On eut besoin d’un million de soldats ; la réquisition y pourvut.
  2. Eh ! bien, ne reculant devant aucune tâche si fastidieuse fût-elle, ils pourvoiront, d’eux-mêmes, à la diffusion de ces ouvrages, en s’en faisant les traducteurs.

This word in other languages

provide(English)abastecer(Español)versehen(Deutsch)providenciar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • opurvoir
  • poruvoir
  • pourovir
  • pourrvoir
  • pourvior
  • pourvoirr
  • pourvori
  • pourvvoir
  • pouvroir
  • ppourvoir
  • puorvoir

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of pourvoir - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

opurvoir2poruvoir2pourovir2pourrvoir1pourvior2pourvoirr1pourvori2pourvvoir1
Edit distance from "pourvoir"

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 "pourvoir"?
"pourvoir" is spelled P-O-U-R-V-O-I-R. The IPA pronunciation is \puʁ.vwaʁ\.
What does "pourvoir" mean?
As a verb, "pourvoir" means: Prendre des dispositions pour quelque chose, y aviser, y donner ordre, suppléer à ce qui manque.
What words are commonly confused with "pourvoir"?
"pourvoir" is commonly confused with "pouvoir", "pouvoirs", "pourrir". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "pourvoir"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "pourvoir" is \puʁ.vwaʁ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "pourvoir" come from?
"pourvoir" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "pourvoir", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

pistolet#8,597punition#8,605opposent#8,590Mohammed#8,582

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (11 here; floor ≥5).

plonger11 variantsmodifiée11 variantssurplus11 variantsvendent11 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list