prévautvsprévusWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#22,046
“prévaut” frequency rank
#6,427
“prévus” frequency rank
28473
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prévaut prévus
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de prévaloir. Masculin pluriel de prévu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set prévaut and prévus apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
prévaut
6 ch
prévus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prévaut is \pʁe.vo\ 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28473, 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\. 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 28473, this pair ranks #322,553 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prévaut vs prévus

Shared letters: pruvé. Private to "prévaut": at. Private to "prévus": s.

"prévaut" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC  ·  "prévus" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequency comparison

prévaut#22,046
prévus#6,427

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prévaut" and "prévus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prévaut" is a verb and "prévus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prévaut" or "prévus"?
"prévus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,427 in our French list, against #22,046 for "prévaut". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering prévaut vs prévus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “prévaut”; for an adjective, it's “prévus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “prévaut” 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