Which to use
“poursuivies” is an adjective and “poursuivre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,773
- “poursuivies” frequency rank
- #2,792
- “poursuivre” frequency rank
- 28565
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | poursuivies | poursuivre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de poursuivi. | Suivre quelqu’un avec application, avec ardeur, courir après quelqu’un dans le dessein de l’atteindre, de le prendre. |
Where the eye mixes poursuivies and poursuivre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. poursuivies runs 11 letters (CVVCCVVCVVC) against poursuivre's 10 (CVVCCVVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses poursuivies with poursuivre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poursuivies is \puʁ.sɥi.vi\ while poursuivre is \puʁ.sɥivʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
poursuivies is recorded at frequency rank #25,773, classified as anadj, pronounced \puʁ.sɥi.vi\. 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 28565, this pair ranks #321,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of poursuivies vs poursuivre
Shared letters: eioprsuv. Private to "poursuivies": -. Private to "poursuivre": -.
"poursuivies" · 11 letters · shape CVVCCVVCVVC · "poursuivre" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- poursuivies ← opursuivies · porusuivies · pourrsuivies · poursiuvies · pourssuivies · poursuiives · poursuiveis · poursuiviess
- poursuivre ← opursuivre · porusuivre · pourrsuivre · poursiuvre · pourssuivre · poursuirve · poursuiver · poursuivrre
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "poursuivies" and "poursuivre" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "poursuivies" or "poursuivre"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "poursuivies" and "poursuivre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "poursuivies" 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 #321,998 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "poursuivies" and "poursuivre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poursuivez vs poursuivies". 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 #321,998 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.