Which to use
“directive” and “directives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,680
- “directive” frequency rank
- #10,486
- “directives” frequency rank
- 18166
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | directive | directives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Acte par lequel une administration, une entreprise, une collectivité se fixe une ligne de conduite, une direction. | Pluriel de directive. |
Same sound, different letters: directive vs directives
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - directive and directives
This is the hard kind. directive and directives are pronounced identically (\di.ʁɛk.tiv\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “directive” sits inside “directives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18166, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
directive is recorded at frequency rank #7,680, classified as anoun, pronounced \di.ʁɛk.tiv\. directives is at rank #10,486, tagged as anoun, pronounced \di.ʁɛk.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 18166, this pair ranks #379,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of directive vs directives
Shared letters: cdeirtv. Private to "directive": -. Private to "directives": s.
"directive" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "directives" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- directive ← ddirective · dierctive · dircetive · direcctive · direcitve · directiev · directivve · directtive
- directives ← ddirectives · dierctives · dircetives · direcctives · direcitves · directievs · directivess · directivse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "directive" for "directives" ever safe?
Frequency check: "directive" vs "directives" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "directive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "directives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #379,677 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "directive" and "directives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "digestives vs directives". 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 #379,677 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.