Which to use
“prévenez” is a verb and “prévenus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32,537
- “prévenez” frequency rank
- #12,230
- “prévenus” frequency rank
- 44767
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prévenez | prévenus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de prévenir. | Masculin pluriel de prévenu. |
Where the eye mixes prévenez and prévenus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. prévenez and prévenus follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between prévenez and prévenus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prévenez is \pʁe.və.ne\ while prévenus is \pʁe.və.ny\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prévenez is recorded at frequency rank #32,537, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁe.və.ne\. prévenus is at rank #12,230, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.və.ny\.
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 44767, this pair ranks #207,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of prévenez vs prévenus
Shared letters: enprvé. Private to "prévenez": z. Private to "prévenus": su.
"prévenez" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "prévenus" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prévenez" for "prévenus" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "prévenez" or "prévenus" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "prévenez" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "prévenus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #207,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prévenez" and "prévenus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prétendez vs prévenez". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #207,993 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.