Which to use
“actifs” and “actives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,233
- “actifs” frequency rank
- #11,335
- “actives” frequency rank
- 14568
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | actifs | actives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de actif. | Féminin pluriel de actif. |
Where the eye mixes actifs and actives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. actifs runs 6 letters (VCCVCC) against actives's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: actifs vs actives
A purely visual mix-up. actifs (\ak.tif\) and actives (\ak.tiv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14568, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
actifs is recorded at frequency rank #3,233, classified as anadj, pronounced \ak.tif\. actives is at rank #11,335, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ak.tiv\.
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 14568, this pair ranks #396,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of actifs vs actives
Shared letters: acist. Private to "actifs": f. Private to "actives": ev.
"actifs" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "actives" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "actifs" and "actives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "actifs" or "actives" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "actifs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "actives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,104 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "actifs" and "actives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "activées vs actives". 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 #396,104 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.