positive
pos·it·ive/ˈpɑzɪtɪv/adjective, noun
positive is spelled P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E, 3 syllables: pos·it·ive. The wrong spelling people search most is postive: about 280 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 14 of all searches for the word. Positive is an adjective meaning “Included, present, characterized by affirmation”.
How many letters and syllables are in positive?
| Letters | 8: P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 3: pos·it·ive |
| In writing | 98 times per million words; the 1,112th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 3; the most searched, postive, about 280 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How do you spell positive?
Positive is spelled P-O-S-I-T-I-V-E. 3 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 10 of the searches for positive in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is positive?
Positive appears 98 times per million words in written English, the 1,112th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce positive?
- US /ˈpɑzɪtɪv/
- US /-ɾɪv/
Positive has 3 syllables, split pos·it·ive in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-positive.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with positive
Also written: pos.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with positive?
2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as positive from its last stressed vowel (/ɑzɪtɪv/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of positive
- more positive comparative
- most positive superlative
- +ve
- positives plural
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does positive mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
adjective
- 1
Included, present, characterized by affirmation.
- 2
Formally laid down.
- 3
Stated definitively and without qualification.
- 4
Fully assured in opinion.
I’m absolutely positive you've spelt that wrong.
- 5
Greater than zero.
- 6
Greater than or equal to zero.
- 7
Characterized by constructiveness or influence for the better.
- 8
Overconfident, dogmatic.
noun
- 1
A thing capable of being affirmed; something real or actual.
- 2
A favourable point or characteristic.
Not a bad situation when we weigh all the positives.
- 3
Something having a positive value in physics, such as an electric charge.
- 4
A degree of comparison of adjectives and adverbs.
- 5
An adjective or adverb in the positive degree.
- 6
A positive image; one that displays true colors and shades, not their opposites or complements.
- 7
The positive plate of a voltaic or electrolytic cell.
- 8
A positive result of a test.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
How do you abbreviate positive?
Wiktionary records one abbreviation of positive: pos.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Positive in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| German | positiv , Grundstufe, Positiv , Positives, gute Seite, Vorteil |
| French | positif , strictement positif |
| Portuguese | positivo |
| Spanish | positivo , supuesto |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.