preuxvsprévusConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#39,466
“preux” frequency rank
#6,427
“prévus” frequency rank
45893
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature preux prévus
Definition Chevalier. Masculin pluriel de prévu.

Where the eye mixes preux and prévus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. preux runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against prévus's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
preux
6 ch
prévus

Why the eye confuses preux with prévus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: preux is \pʁø\ while prévus 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 45893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

preux is recorded at frequency rank #39,466, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁø\. prévus is at rank #6,427, 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 45893, this pair ranks #199,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of preux vs prévus

Shared letters: pru. Private to "preux": ex. Private to "prévus": své.

"preux" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "prévus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • preux ← perux · ppreux · preuxx · prexu · prreux · pruex · rpeux

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "preux" and "prévus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "preux" is a noun and "prévus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "preux" or "prévus"?
"prévus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,427 in our French list, against #39,466 for "preux". 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 "preux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prévus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #199,236 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "preux" and "prévus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs preux". 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 #199,236 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