poursuivezvspoursuivreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#43,079
“poursuivez” frequency rank
#2,792
“poursuivre” frequency rank
45871
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poursuivez poursuivre
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de poursuivre. Suivre quelqu’un avec application, avec ardeur, courir après quelqu’un dans le dessein de l’atteindre, de le prendre.

Where the eye mixes poursuivez and poursuivre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. poursuivez (CVVCCVVCVC) and poursuivre (CVVCCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
poursuivez
10 ch
poursuivre

Visual trap between poursuivez and poursuivre

A purely visual mix-up. poursuivez (\puʁ.sɥi.ve\) and poursuivre (\puʁ.sɥivʁ\) 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 45871, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poursuivez is recorded at frequency rank #43,079, classified as averb, pronounced \puʁ.sɥi.ve\. poursuivre is at rank #2,792, tagged as averb, pronounced \puʁ.sɥivʁ\.

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 45871, this pair ranks #199,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of poursuivez vs poursuivre

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

"poursuivez" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVCVC  ·  "poursuivre" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poursuivezopursuivez · porusuivez · pourrsuivez · poursiuvez · pourssuivez · poursuievz · poursuivezz · poursuivvez
  • poursuivreopursuivre · porusuivre · pourrsuivre · poursiuvre · pourssuivre · poursuirve · poursuiver · poursuivrre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poursuivez" and "poursuivre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\puʁ.sɥi.ve\ versus \puʁ.sɥivʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "poursuivez" vs "poursuivre" - which ranks higher?
"poursuivre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,792 in our French list, against #43,079 for "poursuivez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "poursuivez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "poursuivre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #199,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poursuivez" and "poursuivre" 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 #199,394 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