Which to use
“prévenus” is an adjective and “préviens” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,230
- “prévenus” frequency rank
- #12,032
- “préviens” frequency rank
- 24262
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prévenus | préviens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de prévenu. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de prévenir. |
Where the eye mixes prévenus and préviens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. prévenus (CCVCVCVC) and préviens (CCVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between prévenus and préviens
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: prévenus is \pʁe.və.ny\ while préviens is \pʁe.vjɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24262, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prévenus is recorded at frequency rank #12,230, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.və.ny\. préviens is at rank #12,032, tagged as averb, pronounced \pʁe.vjɛ̃\.
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 24262, this pair ranks #347,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prévenus vs préviens
Shared letters: enprsvé. Private to "prévenus": u. Private to "préviens": i.
"prévenus" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC · "préviens" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "prévenus" for "préviens" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "prévenus" or "préviens" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "prévenus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "préviens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #347,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prévenus" and "préviens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "préviens vs preview". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #347,623 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.