Which to use
“pouvez” and “prouvez” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #532
- “pouvez” frequency rank
- #34,695
- “prouvez” frequency rank
- 35227
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pouvez | prouvez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de pouvoir. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de prouver. |
Where the eye mixes pouvez and prouvez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. pouvez runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against prouvez's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses pouvez with prouvez
A purely visual mix-up. pouvez (\pu.ve\) and prouvez (\pʁu.ve\) 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 35227, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pouvez is recorded at frequency rank #532, classified as averb, pronounced \pu.ve\. prouvez is at rank #34,695, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁu.ve\.
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 35227, this pair ranks #278,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pouvez vs prouvez
Shared letters: eopuvz. Private to "pouvez": -. Private to "prouvez": r.
"pouvez" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "prouvez" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pouvez" and "prouvez" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pouvez" or "prouvez" show up more?
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 "pouvez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prouvez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #278,232 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pouvez" and "prouvez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prouvés vs prouvez". 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 #278,232 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.