pourravspourvuWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pourra” and “pourvu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#853
“pourra” frequency rank
#8,757
“pourvu” frequency rank
9610
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pourra pourvu
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du futur de pouvoir. Participe passé masculin singulier de pourvoir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pourra and pourvu apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
pourra
6 ch
pourvu

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pourra (\pu.ʁa\) and pourvu (\puʁ.vy\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9610, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pourra is recorded at frequency rank #853, classified as averb, pronounced \pu.ʁa\. pourvu is at rank #8,757, tagged as averb, pronounced \puʁ.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 9610, this pair ranks #416,046 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of pourra vs pourvu

Shared letters: opru. Private to "pourra": a. Private to "pourvu": v.

"pourra" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV  ·  "pourvu" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pourraopurra · porura · poura · pourar · ppourra · puorra
  • pourvuopurvu · poruvu · pourrvu · pouruv · pourvvu · pouvru · ppourvu · puorvu

Frequency comparison

pourra#853
pourvu#8,757

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pourra" and "pourvu" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pu.ʁa\ versus \puʁ.vy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pourra" or "pourvu"?
"pourra" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #853 in our French list, against #8,757 for "pourvu". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering pourra vs pourvu

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pourra” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list