poursuite vs poursuivi, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“poursuite” is a noun and “poursuivi” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,634
“poursuite” frequency rank: #6,127
“poursuivi” frequency rank: 9761
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	poursuite	poursuivi
Definition	Action de celui ou de celle qui poursuit un homme ou un animal, qui court après pour l’atteindre, pour le prendre.	Qui est chassé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set poursuite and poursuivi apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

poursuite

9 ch

poursuivi

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

poursuite and poursuivi form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9761, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poursuite is recorded at frequency rank #3,634, classified as anoun, pronounced \puʁ.sɥit\. poursuivi is at rank #6,127, tagged as anadj, pronounced \puʁ.sɥi.vi\.

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 9761, this pair ranks #415,507 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

poursuite#3,634

poursuivi#6,127

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poursuite" and "poursuivi" be used interchangeably?

No, "poursuite" and "poursuivi" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering poursuite vs poursuivi

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “poursuite”; for an adjective, it's “poursuivi”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “poursuite” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable