poursuivisvspoursuivreConfusable pair

Quick tell: poursuivis is a adjective, poursuivre is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“poursuivis” is an adjective and “poursuivre” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,117
“poursuivis” frequency rank
#2,792
“poursuivre” frequency rank
16909
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature poursuivis poursuivre
Definition Masculin 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 poursuivis and poursuivre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. poursuivis (CVVCCVVCVC) and poursuivre (CVVCCVVCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
poursuivis
10 ch
poursuivre

Look-alike desk: poursuivis vs poursuivre

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: poursuivis is \puʁ.sɥi.vi\ while poursuivre is \puʁ.sɥivʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

poursuivis is recorded at frequency rank #14,117, 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 16909, this pair ranks #385,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of poursuivis vs poursuivre

Shared letters: ioprsuv. Private to "poursuivis": -. Private to "poursuivre": e.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • poursuivisopursuivis · porusuivis · pourrsuivis · poursiuvis · pourssuivis · poursuiivs · poursuiviss · poursuivsi
  • poursuivreopursuivre · porusuivre · pourrsuivre · poursiuvre · pourssuivre · poursuirve · poursuiver · poursuivrre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "poursuivis" and "poursuivre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "poursuivis" is an adjective and "poursuivre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "poursuivis" 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 #14,117 for "poursuivis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "poursuivis" 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 #385,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "poursuivis" and "poursuivre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "poursuivez vs poursuivis". 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 #385,690 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