Which to use
“prévu” and “privé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,401
- “prévu” frequency rank
- #1,273
- “privé” frequency rank
- 2674
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | prévu | privé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a été prévu, à quoi l’on s’attend. | Particulier, sans caractère public. |
Where the eye mixes prévu and privé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: prévu vs privé
A purely visual mix-up. prévu (\pʁe.vy\) and privé (\pʁi.ve\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2674, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
prévu is recorded at frequency rank #1,401, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁe.vy\. privé is at rank #1,273, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁi.ve\.
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 2674, this pair ranks #435,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of prévu vs privé
Shared letters: prvé. Private to "prévu": u. Private to "privé": i.
"prévu" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "privé" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "prévu" and "privé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "prévu" or "privé" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "prévu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "privé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #435,676 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "prévu" and "privé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs prévu". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #435,676 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.