Which to use
“activité” and “activity” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #713
- “activité” frequency rank
- #44,842
- “activity” frequency rank
- 45555
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | activité | activity |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | État de celui, celle, ce qui est actif, qui agit. | Activité, vigueur, état d’être actif. |
Where the eye mixes activité and activity
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses activité with activity
A purely visual mix-up. activité (\ak.ti.vi.te\) and activity (\ækˈtɪv.ə.ti\) 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 a single letter - é in “activité” becomes y in “activity”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
activité is recorded at frequency rank #713, classified as anoun, pronounced \ak.ti.vi.te\. activity is at rank #44,842, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ækˈtɪv.ə.ti\.
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 45555, this pair ranks #201,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of activité vs activity
Shared letters: acitv. Private to "activité": é. Private to "activity": y.
"activité" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "activity" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- activity ← acctivity · acitvity · actiivty · activitty · activityy · activiyt · activtiy · activvity
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "activité" and "activity" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "activité" vs "activity" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "activité" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "activity" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "activité" and "activity" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "activiste vs activity". 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 #201,852 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.