passif

\pa.sif\

/\pa.sif\/ adj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“passif” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #8,592. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#8,592
frequency rank, French
6,826
“P” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
13
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Qui souffre, qui subit l’action, l’impression.

Corpus desk

Index FR-passif · passif · French

passif · rank #8,592 · 7 variants · 13 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #8,592
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 13 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 6,826
  • PHOTO-FINISH ordinaires

Nearest frequency peer: ordinaires (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « passif »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « passif » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

passif vs Passy
50% similar
passif vs pensif
67% similar
passif vs passion
71% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for passif
PropertyValue
Headwordpassif
LanguageFrench
Part of speechAdjective
IPA\pa.sif\
Letters6
Frequency rank#8,592
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs13
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « passif »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.passifse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « ordinaires » (#8,591), « paulo » (#8,593), « opposent » (#8,590). Parmi 6,826 lemmes en « P », « passif » est au #8,592. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around passif (IPA \pa.sif\), anadjective. Corpus frequency is #8,592 among 6,826 “P” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

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

  1. 1
    Qui souffre, qui subit l’action, l’impression.
  2. 2
    Qui n’agit pas.
  3. 3
    Qui, dans le coït, est le partenaire réceptif.
  4. 4
    Se dit des formes verbales qui présentent l’action comme subie par le sujet, au lieu d’être faite par lui.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how passif appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Corps passif.
  2. État passif.

Antonyms

actifinsertif

This word in other languages

passive(English)pasivo(Español)passiv(Deutsch)

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.

apssif2pasif1pasisf2passfi2passiff1ppassif1psasif2
Edit distance from "passif"

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"?
"passif" is spelled P-A-S-S-I-F. The IPA pronunciation is \pa.sif\.
What does "passif" mean?
As an adjective, "passif" means: Qui souffre, qui subit l’action, l’impression.
What words are commonly confused with "passif"?
"passif" is commonly confused with "Passy", "pensif", "passion". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "passif"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "passif" is \pa.sif\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "passif" come from?
"passif" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "passif", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

poètes#8,602London#8,576landes#8,570salons#8,615

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

LGBT7 variantssapin7 variantssaveur7 variantssexes7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list