additifvsadditifsTell them apart

Quick tell: additif is a adjective, additifs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“additif” is an adjective and “additifs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,230
“additif” frequency rank
#28,434
“additifs” frequency rank
64664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature additif additifs
Definition Qui s’ajoute, qui s’additionne, qui complète. Pluriel de additif.

Same sound, different letters: additif vs additifs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. additif runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against additifs's 8 (VCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
additif
8 ch
additifs

Same sound, different spelling - additif / additifs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: additif and additifs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.di.tif\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “additif” sits inside “additifs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

additif is recorded at frequency rank #36,230, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.di.tif\. additifs is at rank #28,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.di.tif\.

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 64664, this pair ranks #75,950 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of additif vs additifs

Shared letters: adfit. Private to "additif": -. Private to "additifs": s.

"additif" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "additifs" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • additifaddiitf · additfi · additiff · addittif · addtiif · adidtif · aditif · daditif
  • additifsaddiitfs · additfis · additiffs · additifss · additisf · addittifs · addtiifs · adidtifs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "additif" for "additifs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "additif" is an adjective and "additifs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "additif" vs "additifs" - which ranks higher?
"additifs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,434 in our French list, against #36,230 for "additif". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "additif" / "additifs". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "additif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "additifs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #75,950 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "additif" and "additifs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "additifs vs adoptifs". 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 #75,950 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list