Which to use
“poursuit” and “poursuive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,096
- “poursuit” frequency rank
- #36,538
- “poursuive” frequency rank
- 39634
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poursuit | poursuive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de poursuivre. | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de poursuivre. |
Where the eye mixes poursuit and poursuive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. poursuit runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against poursuive's 9 (CVVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poursuit with poursuive
A purely visual mix-up. poursuit (\puʁ.sɥi\) and poursuive (\puʁ.sɥiv\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poursuit is recorded at frequency rank #3,096, classified as averb, pronounced \puʁ.sɥi\. poursuive is at rank #36,538, tagged as averb, pronounced \puʁ.sɥiv\.
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 39634, this pair ranks #246,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poursuit vs poursuive
Shared letters: ioprsu. Private to "poursuit": t. Private to "poursuive": ev.
"poursuit" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "poursuive" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poursuit" and "poursuive" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "poursuit" vs "poursuive" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "poursuit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poursuive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #246,519 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poursuit" and "poursuive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poursuive vs poursuivez". 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 #246,519 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.