passif
\pa.sif\
The verdict
“passif” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #8,592 in French word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #8,592
- frequency rank, French
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 13
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Qui souffre, qui subit l’action, l’impression.
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 | passif |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | \pa.sif\ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #8,592 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 13 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “passif” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for passif is 6 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \pa.sif\. Corpus data places it at rank #8,592 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for passif, with forms such as "apssif", "pasif", and "pasisf". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 13 confusable-pair relationships, "Passy", "pensif", "passion", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best explained by sound-to-letter mapping rather than etymology. The correct French form is passif, spelled P-A-S-S-I-F.
Definition
- 1Qui souffre, qui subit l’action, l’impression.
- 2Qui n’agit pas.
- 3Qui, dans le coït, est le partenaire réceptif.
- 4Se dit des formes verbales qui présentent l’action comme subie par le sujet, au lieu d’être faite par lui.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: apssif,pasif,pasisf,passfi,passiff,ppassif,psasif
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of passif - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 "passif"?
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Using “passif”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is P-A-S-S-I-F - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \pa.sif\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Passy” - see the side-by-side comparison. passif vs Passy
- 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.