Which to use
“reductase” is a noun and “reductive” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #41,341
- “reductase” frequency rank
- #39,523
- “reductive” frequency rank
- 80864
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | reductase | reductive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An enzyme that chemically reduces its substrate. | Pertaining to the reduction of a decree etc.; rescissory. |
Where the eye mixes reductase and reductive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: reductase vs reductive
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: reductase is /ɹɪˈdʌk.teɪz/ while reductive is /ɹɪˈdʌktɪv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80864, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
reductase is recorded at frequency rank #41,341, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹɪˈdʌk.teɪz/. reductive is at rank #39,523, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɹɪˈdʌktɪv/.
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 80864, this pair ranks #18,892 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of reductase vs reductive
Shared letters: cdertu. Private to "reductase": as. Private to "reductive": iv.
"reductase" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "reductive" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "reductase" and "reductive" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "reductase" vs "reductive" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "reductase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "reductive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,892 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "reductase" and "reductive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "reactive vs reductive". 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 #18,892 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.