impulsive
\ɛ̃.pyl.siv\
The verdict
“impulsive” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #40,317 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #40,317
- frequency rank, French
- 9
- letters
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Féminin singulier de impulsif.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | impulsive |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \ɛ̃.pyl.siv\ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #40,317 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “impulsive” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for impulsive is 9 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɛ̃.pyl.siv\. Corpus data places it at rank #40,317 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Féminin singulier de impulsif.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for impulsive, with forms such as "immpulsive", "implusive", and "imppulsive". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "impulse", "impulsif", "impulsion", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is impulsive, spelled I-M-P-U-L-S-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1Féminin singulier de impulsif.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: immpulsive,implusive,imppulsive,impulisve,impullsive,impulsiev,impulsivve,impulssive,impulsvie,impuslive,imuplsive,ipmulsive,mipulsive
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of impulsive - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "impulsive"?
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Using “impulsive”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is I-M-P-U-L-S-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \ɛ̃.pyl.siv\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “impulse” - see the side-by-side comparison. impulsive vs impulse
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.