Which to use
“excessive” and “extensive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,152
- “excessive” frequency rank
- #37,329
- “extensive” frequency rank
- 47481
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | excessive | extensive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de excessif. | Féminin singulier de extensif. |
Where the eye mixes excessive and extensive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between excessive and extensive
A purely visual mix-up. excessive (\ɛk.se.siv\) and extensive (\ɛk.stɑ̃.siv\) 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 47481, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
excessive is recorded at frequency rank #10,152, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.se.siv\. extensive is at rank #37,329, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.stɑ̃.siv\.
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 47481, this pair ranks #186,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of excessive vs extensive
Shared letters: eisvx. Private to "excessive": c. Private to "extensive": nt.
"excessive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "extensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "excessive" and "extensive" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "excessive" or "extensive"?
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 "excessive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "extensive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #186,612 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "excessive" and "extensive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "extensible vs extensive". 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 #186,612 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.