Which to use
“prévaut” is a verb and “prévu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #22,046
- “prévaut” frequency rank
- #1,401
- “prévu” frequency rank
- 23447
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prévaut | prévu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de prévaloir. | Qui a été prévu, à quoi l’on s’attend. |
Where the eye mixes prévaut and prévu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. prévaut runs 7 letters (CCVCVVC) against prévu's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between prévaut and prévu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prévaut is \pʁe.vo\ while prévu is \pʁe.vy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23447, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prévaut is recorded at frequency rank #22,046, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.vo\. prévu is at rank #1,401, 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 23447, this pair ranks #352,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prévaut vs prévu
Shared letters: pruvé. Private to "prévaut": at. Private to "prévu": -.
"prévaut" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "prévu" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "prévaut" and "prévu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "prévaut" or "prévu"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "prévaut" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prévu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,422 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prévaut" and "prévu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "préau vs prévaut". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #352,422 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.