Which to use
“suive” is a verb and “suivie” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,330
- “suive” frequency rank
- #4,190
- “suivie” frequency rank
- 22520
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | suive | suivie |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif du verbe suivre. | Féminin singulier de suivi. |
Where the eye mixes suive and suivie
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. suive runs 5 letters (CVVCV) against suivie's 6 (CVVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses suive with suivie
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: suive is \sɥiv\ while suivie is \sɥi.vi\. 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 22520, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
suive is recorded at frequency rank #18,330, classified as averb, pronounced \sɥiv\. suivie is at rank #4,190, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɥi.vi\.
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 22520, this pair ranks #357,560 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of suive vs suivie
Shared letters: eisuv. Private to "suive": -. Private to "suivie": -.
"suive" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "suivie" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "suive" for "suivie" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "suive" or "suivie" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "suive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "suivie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #357,560 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "suive" and "suivie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "suive vs Suze". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #357,560 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.