Which to use
“pourvoir” and “pouvoir” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,601
- “pourvoir” frequency rank
- #257
- “pouvoir” frequency rank
- 8858
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pourvoir | pouvoir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prendre des dispositions pour quelque chose, y aviser, y donner ordre, suppléer à ce qui manque. | Être capable de ; avoir la faculté de ; être en état de ; être en mesure de. |
Where the eye mixes pourvoir and pouvoir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. pourvoir runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against pouvoir's 7 (CVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: pourvoir vs pouvoir
A purely visual mix-up. pourvoir (\puʁ.vwaʁ\) and pouvoir (\pu.vwaʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8858, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pourvoir is recorded at frequency rank #8,601, classified as averb, pronounced \puʁ.vwaʁ\. pouvoir is at rank #257, tagged as averb, pronounced \pu.vwaʁ\.
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 8858, this pair ranks #418,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pourvoir vs pouvoir
Shared letters: iopruv. Private to "pourvoir": -. Private to "pouvoir": -.
"pourvoir" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC · "pouvoir" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pourvoir" for "pouvoir" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pourvoir" vs "pouvoir" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pourvoir" and "pouvoir" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pourvoir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pouvoir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #418,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pourvoir" and "pouvoir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pourvoi vs pourvoir". 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 #418,640 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.