preuvevsprouvésWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: preuve is a noun, prouvés is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“preuve” is a noun and “prouvés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#950
“preuve” frequency rank
#46,969
“prouvés” frequency rank
47919
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature preuve prouvés
Definition Ce qui établit la véracité d’une proposition ou d’un fait. Masculin pluriel de prouvé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set preuve and prouvés apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
preuve
7 ch
prouvés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: preuve is \pʁœv\ while prouvés is \pʁu.ve\. 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 47919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preuve is recorded at frequency rank #950, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁœv\. prouvés is at rank #46,969, tagged as anadj, 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 47919, this pair ranks #183,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of preuve vs prouvés

Shared letters: pruv. Private to "preuve": e. Private to "prouvés": osé.

"preuve" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCV  ·  "prouvés" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preuveperuve · ppreuve · preuev · preuvve · prevue · prreuve · prueve · rpeuve

Frequency comparison

preuve#950
prouvés#46,969

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "preuve" and "prouvés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "preuve" is a noun and "prouvés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "preuve" or "prouvés"?
"preuve" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #950 in our French list, against #46,969 for "prouvés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering preuve vs prouvés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “preuve”; for an adjective, it's “prouvés”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “preuve” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list