Which to use
“pourboire” is a noun and “pourvoir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,529
- “pourboire” frequency rank
- #8,601
- “pourvoir” frequency rank
- 29130
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pourboire | pourvoir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Appoint que l’on donne comme gratification à celui qui touche une note, qui apporte un paquet, qui rend un service quelconque. | Prendre des dispositions pour quelque chose, y aviser, y donner ordre, suppléer à ce qui manque. |
Where the eye mixes pourboire and pourvoir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. pourboire runs 9 letters (CVVCCVVCV) against pourvoir's 8 (CVVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pourboire with pourvoir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pourboire is \puʁ.bwaʁ\ while pourvoir is \puʁ.vwaʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pourboire is recorded at frequency rank #20,529, classified as anoun, pronounced \puʁ.bwaʁ\. pourvoir is at rank #8,601, tagged as averb, pronounced \puʁ.vwaʁ\.
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 29130, this pair ranks #318,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pourboire vs pourvoir
Shared letters: iopru. Private to "pourboire": be. Private to "pourvoir": v.
"pourboire" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV · "pourvoir" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pourboire" and "pourvoir" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "pourboire" or "pourvoir"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pourboire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pourvoir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #318,569 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pourboire" and "pourvoir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pourboire vs pourboires". 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 #318,569 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.