Which to use
“poursuive” is a verb and “poursuivi” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #36,538
- “poursuive” frequency rank
- #6,127
- “poursuivi” frequency rank
- 42665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poursuive | poursuivi |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de poursuivre. | Qui est chassé. |
Where the eye mixes poursuive and poursuivi
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. poursuive and poursuivi follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between poursuive and poursuivi
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poursuive is \puʁ.sɥiv\ while poursuivi is \puʁ.sɥi.vi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “poursuive” becomes i in “poursuivi”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42665, 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\. 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 42665, this pair ranks #223,886 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poursuive vs poursuivi
Shared letters: ioprsuv. Private to "poursuive": e. Private to "poursuivi": -.
"poursuive" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV · "poursuivi" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "poursuive" for "poursuivi" ever safe?
Which is more common, "poursuive" or "poursuivi"?
Useful next steps
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 "poursuivi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #223,886 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poursuive" and "poursuivi" 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 #223,886 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.