Which to use
“neu” and “neuve” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,394
- “neu” frequency rank
- #5,265
- “neuve” frequency rank
- 45659
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | neu | neuve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nouveau. | Féminin singulier de neuf. |
Where the eye mixes neu and neuve
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. neu runs 3 letters (CVV) against neuve's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: neu vs neuve
A purely visual mix-up. neu (\nɔɪ̯\) and neuve (\nœv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “neu” sits inside “neuve”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45659, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
neu is recorded at frequency rank #40,394, classified as anadj, pronounced \nɔɪ̯\. neuve is at rank #5,265, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nœv\.
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 45659, this pair ranks #201,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of neu vs neuve
Shared letters: enu. Private to "neu": -. Private to "neuve": v.
"neu" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "neuve" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- neuve ← enuve · neuev · neuvve · nevue · nneuve · nueve
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "neu" and "neuve" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "neu" or "neuve" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "neu" and "neuve" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "neu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "neuve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,052 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "neu" and "neuve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "neu vs nop". 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 #201,052 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.