If you are writing an email, essay, resume, or social media post and suddenly wonder whether it is persue or pursue, the answer is simple: pursue is the correct spelling.
The confusion usually happens because the two spellings look and sound similar. However, persue is a misspelling, not an accepted alternative spelling of the verb pursue. This guide explains the meaning, spelling, pronunciation, grammar, examples, common mistakes, and easy ways to remember the correct form. (Cambridge Dictionary)
Quick Answer
Pursue is the correct spelling.
| Form | Correct? | Meaning | Use |
| Pursue | Yes | To follow, seek, continue, or work toward something | Standard English |
| Persue | No | No standard English meaning | Misspelling |
Use pursue when you mean to follow someone, chase something, work toward a goal, continue an activity, or try to achieve something.
Correct: She wants to pursue a career in medicine.
Incorrect: She wants to persue a career in medicine.
Cambridge Dictionary lists pursue as a verb with meanings including following someone or something and trying to achieve a plan, activity, or goal.
Meaning and Definition
Meaning of Pursue
Pursue means to follow, chase, seek, or work toward something.
The exact meaning depends on the context. You can pursue a person, pursue a goal, pursue a career, pursue an opportunity, or pursue a matter.
For example:
- The police pursued the suspect.
- She decided to pursue her dream.
- He wants to pursue a career in engineering.
- The company is pursuing new opportunities.
The word often suggests continued effort or action over a period of time, especially when it refers to a goal, career, plan, or ambition. (Cambridge Dictionary)
Definition of Pursue
Pursue is a verb meaning to follow or chase someone or something, or to try to achieve or continue something.
It can describe physical following, such as when police pursue a suspect. It can also describe an abstract objective, such as pursuing a career, pursuing a goal, or pursuing a solution.
The word can therefore be used in both physical and figurative situations.
Meaning of Persue
Persue has no standard English meaning.
It is a misspelling of pursue. If you intend to express the idea of following, chasing, seeking, or working toward something, you should write pursue, not persue.
For example:
Incorrect: He wants to persue his dreams.
Correct: He wants to pursue his dreams.
Do not treat persue as an alternative spelling or regional version of pursue.
Main Difference
The main difference between persue and pursue is spelling and correctness.
Pursue is the standard English word. Persue is a spelling error.
There is no separate meaning that distinguishes the two. You should not use persue in formal writing, academic work, professional communication, or everyday standard English.
The correct spelling is:
P-U-R-S-U-E
A useful way to remember it is that pursuit begins with “pur,” not “per.”
Pursue as a Verb
Pursue is a verb. It can describe an action involving a person, thing, goal, activity, or idea.
Examples include:
- pursue a career
- pursue a goal
- pursue a dream
- pursue an opportunity
- pursue a degree
- pursue a solution
- pursue a case
- pursue a suspect
Cambridge gives pursue as a verb and identifies forms such as pursuing and pursued.
Which One Is Correct?
Pursue is correct. Persue is incorrect.
There is no standard English spelling distinction in which persue becomes correct in a particular sentence.
If you are unsure which one to use, choose pursue.
Correct
- I want to pursue my goals.
- She plans to pursue a degree in law.
- The police pursued the vehicle.
- We should pursue this opportunity.
- He is pursuing a career in technology.
Incorrect
- I want to persue my goals.
- She plans to persue a degree in law.
- The police persued the vehicle.
- We should persue this opportunity.
- He is persuing a career in technology.
The related forms also keep the pur spelling:
- pursue
- pursued
- pursuing
- pursuit
- pursuer
Grammar and Usage
Pursue is normally used as a transitive verb, meaning it usually takes a direct object.
For example:
She pursued her dream.
Here, pursued is the verb and her dream is the object.
You can use pursue with many different types of objects.
Pursue a Career
Use pursue a career when talking about working toward or developing a particular career.
- She decided to pursue a career in teaching.
- He wants to pursue a career in medicine.
- They are pursuing careers in technology.
Pursue a Goal
Use pursue a goal when someone actively works toward achieving something.
- She continued to pursue her goal.
- We should pursue our long-term goals.
- He is determined to pursue his goals.
Pursue a Dream
This expression is common when discussing ambitions or personal aspirations.
- Never stop pursuing your dreams.
- She moved abroad to pursue her dream.
- He worked hard to pursue his dream of becoming a writer.
Pursue an Opportunity
You can use pursue when someone actively tries to take advantage of an opportunity.
- The company decided to pursue the opportunity.
- He is pursuing several job opportunities.
- We should pursue this opportunity before it disappears.
Pursue a Person
In its more literal sense, pursue means to follow or chase someone.
- The police pursued the suspect.
- The dog pursued the rabbit.
- The officers pursued the fleeing vehicle.
Cambridge describes this sense as following someone or something, usually with the intention of catching them.
How to Use Pursue
The easiest way to use pursue correctly is to connect it with something that someone is actively trying to follow, achieve, continue, or investigate.
Common patterns include:
pursue + career
She decided to pursue a career in journalism.
pursue + goal
He is determined to pursue his goal.
pursue + dream
They left their hometown to pursue their dreams.
pursue + opportunity
The company plans to pursue new opportunities.
pursue + education
She moved abroad to pursue higher education.
pursue + matter
The organization decided to pursue the matter further.
pursue + person or thing
The police pursued the suspect.
The meaning changes slightly depending on the object, but the spelling remains pursue.
Examples
Pursue
- She decided to pursue a career in medicine.
- He moved to another city to pursue his dream.
- The police continued to pursue the suspect.
- They are working hard to pursue their goals.
- I want to pursue higher education.
- The company plans to pursue new business opportunities.
- She chose to pursue a degree in psychology.
- We should pursue every reasonable option.
- He is pursuing a career in software development.
- The researchers decided to pursue the investigation further.
- She refused to give up and continued pursuing her ambition.
- The team is pursuing a solution to the problem.
Pursued
Pursued is the past tense and past participle of pursue.
- She pursued her dream despite many challenges.
- The police pursued the vehicle for several miles.
- He pursued a degree in engineering.
- The company pursued several possible solutions.
- They pursued the matter through the appropriate channels.
Examples With Pursuing
Pursuing is the present participle of pursue.
- She is pursuing a career in education.
- He is pursuing his long-term goals.
- They are pursuing new opportunities.
- The researchers are pursuing several possible explanations.
- She is pursuing a master’s degree.
Common Mistakes
Writing Persue Instead of Pursue
The most common mistake is replacing pur with per.
Incorrect: I want to persue my career.
Correct: I want to pursue my career.
This mistake is easy to make because persue looks familiar and may seem to match the way the word sounds.
Writing Persuing Instead of Pursuing
Another common mistake occurs when adding -ing.
Incorrect: She is persuing her dreams.
Correct: She is pursuing her dreams.
The correct spelling is pursuing, with pursu- before the final -ing.
Writing Persued Instead of Pursued
The past tense is also sometimes misspelled.
Incorrect: He persued his goal for years.
Correct: He pursued his goal for years.
Remember that the correct base form is pursued, so its past form is pursued.
Confusing Pursue With Peruse
Pursue and peruse are different words.
Pursue means to follow, seek, or work toward something.
She wants to pursue a career in law.
Peruse traditionally means to read or examine something carefully. In modern usage, it can also be used to mean looking through something, depending on context.
He perused the report before the meeting.
These words should not be used interchangeably.
Linguistic Insight
The spelling of pursue can seem unusual to English learners because its pronunciation does not make every letter obvious.
Cambridge gives the US pronunciation as approximately /pɚˈsuː/ and the UK pronunciation as /pəˈsjuː/.
This helps explain why some writers may hear the beginning of the word differently from how it is spelled. When spoken naturally, the first vowel does not strongly signal whether the spelling should begin with pur- or per-.
The word also belongs to a family of related forms that preserve the purs- spelling:
- pursue
- pursued
- pursuing
- pursuer
- pursuit
The noun pursuit refers to the act of following someone or trying to achieve something. For example, the pursuit of happiness refers to the attempt to achieve happiness.
Seeing these related words together can make the spelling easier to remember.
Usage Tips
Here are a few simple ways to remember to pursue.
Remember “PUR”
Think:
PUR + SUE = PURSUE
The word begins with pur, not per.
Remember the Word Family
Connect pursue with its related words:
pursue → pursued → pursuing → pursuit
They all use the purs- spelling.
Think About Your Goal
When you are talking about pursuing a goal, dream, career, degree, or opportunity, remember that all of these expressions use pursue.
- pursue a dream
- pursue a goal
- pursue a career
- pursue an opportunity
- pursue an education
Check the First Four Letters
If you are unsure while writing, look at the beginning:
PURsue ✅
PERsue ❌
This simple check can prevent the most common spelling mistake.
Expert Suggestion
If you are a student, professional writer, ESL learner, or content creator, make pursue part of your active vocabulary rather than memorizing it as an isolated spelling.
Learn it together with its common combinations, such as pursue a career, pursue a goal, pursue a dream, and pursue an opportunity.
Also remember the related forms pursued, pursuing, and pursuit. Once you recognize the word family, the spelling becomes much easier to recall.
Most importantly, do not assume that a spelling is correct simply because you see it frequently online. In the case of persue, frequent appearance does not make it a standard English variant.
Summary
Pursue is the correct spelling, while pursue is an incorrect spelling.
The verb pursue can mean to follow or chase someone or something, or to work toward achieving a goal, career, dream, plan, or opportunity. It can also describe continuing or investigating something, depending on the context.
The correct forms include pursue, pursued, pursuing, and pursuit. Remember the first part as pur, not per.
So, whenever you are deciding between pursue or pursue, choose pursue.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is persue a correct word?
No. Pursue is a misspelling of pursue. It is not the standard spelling of the English verb. If you mean to follow, chase, seek, or work toward something, use pursue.
Is pursuing the correct spelling?
Yes. Pursue is the correct standard English spelling. It is a verb that can mean to follow or chase someone or something, or to work toward achieving a goal or objective.
What does pursue mean?
Pursue means to follow, chase, seek, continue, or work toward something. For example, you can pursue a person, pursue a career, pursue a goal, pursue a dream, or pursue an opportunity.
What is the difference between pursue and pursue?
There is no difference in meaning because pursue is not a standard English word. Pursue is the correct form. Therefore, use pursue whenever you want to express the idea of following, seeking, or working toward something.
Is it pursue or pursue a career?
The correct expression is pursue a career.
Correct: She wants to pursue a career in medicine.
Incorrect: She wants to pursue a career in medicine.
Is it pursuing or pursuing?
The correct spelling is pursuing. It comes from the verb pursue.
Correct: He is pursuing his goals.
Incorrect: He is pursuing his goals.
Is it pursued or pursued?
The correct spelling is pursued.
Correct: She pursued her dream.
Incorrect: She pursued her dream.
Pursued is the past tense and past participle of pursue.
How do you pronounce pursue?
In US English, pursue is pronounced approximately /pɚˈsuː/. In UK English, it is approximately /pəˈsjuː/. The final part sounds like “sue.”
Can you pursue a person?
Yes. Pursue can mean to follow or chase a person, usually with the intention of catching them. For example, “The police pursued the suspect.”
Can you pursue a goal?
Yes. Pursuing a goal is a natural and common English expression. It means to actively work toward achieving that goal.
Can you pursue an opportunity?
Yes. Pursuing an opportunity means to actively try to obtain or develop an opportunity. For example, “The company decided to pursue the opportunity.”
What is the noun form of pursue?
The main related noun is pursuit. It can refer to the act of following someone or the attempt to achieve something. For example, “the pursuit of knowledge” means the effort to gain knowledge.
What is the easiest way to remember to pursue?
Remember that pursuit starts with “pur,” not “per.” You can also connect it with related words such as pursued, pursuing, and pursuit. If you see persue, replace the per with pur.
Noah Walker is a thoughtful writer who enjoys making English clear, practical, and easy to understand. At Grammer Lord, he creates engaging guides, useful examples, and creative language ideas that help readers learn with confidence. Noah has a genuine appreciation for words and enjoys finding simple ways to explain their meaning and everyday use. He believes good writing should be helpful, natural, and enjoyable. Through his work, he aims to inspire students, writers, and everyday readers to communicate clearly and make every word count.
