prouvervsprouvésWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,443
“prouver” frequency rank
#46,969
“prouvés” frequency rank
49412
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prouver prouvés
Definition Établir la vérité de quelque chose par le raisonnement ou par le témoignage. Masculin pluriel de prouvé.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
prouver
7 ch
prouvés

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: prouver and prouvés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pʁu.ve\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49412, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prouver is recorded at frequency rank #2,443, classified as averb, pronounced \pʁu.ve\. prouvés is at rank #46,969, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pʁu.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 49412, this pair ranks #170,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of prouver vs prouvés

Shared letters: opruv. Private to "prouver": e. Private to "prouvés": .

"prouver" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "prouvés" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • prouverporuver · pprouver · prouevr · prouverr · prouvre · prouvver · provuer · prrouver

Frequency comparison

prouver#2,443
prouvés#46,969

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "prouver" and "prouvés" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "prouver" is a verb and "prouvés" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "prouver" or "prouvés"?
"prouver" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,443 in our French list, against #46,969 for "prouvés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering prouver vs prouvés

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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