Which to use
“préau” is a noun and “prévue” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,809
- “préau” frequency rank
- #3,561
- “prévue” frequency rank
- 49370
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | préau | prévue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petit pré. | Féminin singulier de prévu. |
Where the eye mixes préau and prévue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between préau and prévue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: préau is \pʁe.o\ while prévue is \pʁe.vy\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49370, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
préau is recorded at frequency rank #45,809, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁe.o\. prévue is at rank #3,561, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.vy\.
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 49370, this pair ranks #171,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of préau vs prévue
Shared letters: prué. Private to "préau": a. Private to "prévue": ev.
"préau" · 5 letters · shape CCVVV · "prévue" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "préau" for "prévue" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "préau" or "prévue" show up more?
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 "préau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prévue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #171,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "préau" and "prévue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "préau vs prep". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #171,258 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.