poursuivevspoursuivezWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,538
“poursuive” frequency rank
#43,079
“poursuivez” frequency rank
79617
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poursuive poursuivez
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de poursuivre. Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de poursuivre.

Where the eye mixes poursuive and poursuivez

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. poursuive runs 9 letters (CVVCCVVCV) against poursuivez's 10 (CVVCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
poursuive
10 ch
poursuivez

Why the eye confuses poursuive with poursuivez

A purely visual mix-up. poursuive (\puʁ.sɥiv\) and poursuivez (\puʁ.sɥi.ve\) 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 extra letter(s) - “poursuive” sits inside “poursuivez”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79617, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poursuive is recorded at frequency rank #36,538, classified as averb, pronounced \puʁ.sɥiv\. poursuivez is at rank #43,079, tagged as averb, pronounced \puʁ.sɥi.ve\.

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 79617, this pair ranks #22,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of poursuive vs poursuivez

Shared letters: eioprsuv. Private to "poursuive": -. Private to "poursuivez": z.

"poursuive" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV  ·  "poursuivez" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poursuiveopursuive · porusuive · pourrsuive · poursiuve · pourssuive · poursuiev · poursuivve · poursuvie
  • poursuivezopursuivez · porusuivez · pourrsuivez · poursiuvez · pourssuivez · poursuievz · poursuivezz · poursuivvez

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poursuive" and "poursuivez" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\puʁ.sɥiv\ versus \puʁ.sɥi.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poursuive" vs "poursuivez" - which ranks higher?
"poursuive" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,538 in our French list, against #43,079 for "poursuivez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "poursuive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poursuivez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #22,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poursuive" and "poursuivez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poursuis vs poursuive". 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 #22,854 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list