cognitifsvscognitivesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“cognitifs” and “cognitives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,103
“cognitifs” frequency rank
#20,393
“cognitives” frequency rank
48496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cognitifs cognitives
Definition Masculin pluriel de cognitif. Féminin pluriel de cognitif.

Where the eye mixes cognitifs and cognitives

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. cognitifs runs 9 letters (CVCCVCVCC) against cognitives's 10 (CVCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
cognitifs
10 ch
cognitives

Visual trap between cognitifs and cognitives

A purely visual mix-up. cognitifs (\kɔ.ɲi.tif\) and cognitives (\kɔ.ɲi.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 48496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cognitifs is recorded at frequency rank #28,103, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ɲi.tif\. cognitives is at rank #20,393, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.ɲi.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 48496, this pair ranks #178,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cognitifs vs cognitives

Shared letters: cginost. Private to "cognitifs": f. Private to "cognitives": ev.

"cognitifs" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC  ·  "cognitives" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • cognitifs ← ccognitifs · cgonitifs · coggnitifs · cogintifs · cogniitfs · cognitfis · cognitiffs · cognitifss
  • cognitives ← ccognitives · cgonitives · coggnitives · cogintives · cogniitves · cognitievs · cognitivess · cognitivse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cognitifs" for "cognitives" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔ.ɲi.tif\ versus \kɔ.ɲi.tiv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "cognitifs" or "cognitives" show up more?
"cognitives" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,393 in our French list, against #28,103 for "cognitifs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "cognitifs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cognitives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cognitifs" and "cognitives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cognitifs vs cognition". 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 #178,427 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