Which to use
“imprévu” and “imprévus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,318
- “imprévu” frequency rank
- #23,897
- “imprévus” frequency rank
- 43215
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | imprévu | imprévus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qu’on n’avait pas prévu ; qui n'est pas conforme à des prévisions ou à un plan. | Masculin pluriel de imprévu. |
Same sound, different letters: imprévu vs imprévus
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Homophone desk: imprévu vs imprévus
This is the hard kind. imprévu and imprévus are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.pʁe.vy\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “imprévu” sits inside “imprévus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
imprévu is recorded at frequency rank #19,318, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁe.vy\. imprévus is at rank #23,897, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.pʁe.vy\.
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 43215, this pair ranks #219,787 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of imprévu vs imprévus
Shared letters: impruvé. Private to "imprévu": -. Private to "imprévus": s.
"imprévu" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV · "imprévus" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "imprévu" and "imprévus" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "imprévu" vs "imprévus" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"imprévu" and "imprévus" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "imprévu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "imprévus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #219,787 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "imprévu" and "imprévus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "imprévues vs imprévus". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #219,787 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.