Which to use
“digestion” and “digestive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,711
- “digestion” frequency rank
- #37,273
- “digestive” frequency rank
- 55984
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | digestion | digestive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de digérer : processus au cours duquel un organisme vivant élabore les aliments mangés en nutriments, les assimile, et défèque le rebut. | Biscuit anglais, à réputation antiacide (contenant anciennement du bicarbonate de soude). |
Where the eye mixes digestion and digestive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. digestion (CVCVCCVVC) and digestive (CVCVCCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses digestion with digestive
A purely visual mix-up. digestion (\di.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\) and digestive (\daj.ʒɛs.tiv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
digestion is recorded at frequency rank #18,711, classified as anoun, pronounced \di.ʒɛs.tjɔ̃\. digestive is at rank #37,273, tagged as anoun, pronounced \daj.ʒɛs.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 55984, this pair ranks #123,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of digestion vs digestive
Shared letters: degist. Private to "digestion": no. Private to "digestive": v.
"digestion" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC · "digestive" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "digestion" and "digestive" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "digestion" vs "digestive" - which ranks higher?
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 "digestion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "digestive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,945 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "digestion" and "digestive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "digeste vs digestive". 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 #123,945 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.