exploitevsexplosiveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: exploite is a verb, explosive is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“exploite” is a verb and “explosive” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,770
“exploite” frequency rank
#19,832
“explosive” frequency rank
31602
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exploite explosive
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de exploiter. Consonne à tension croissante.

Where the eye mixes exploite and explosive

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
exploite
9 ch
explosive

Visual trap between exploite and explosive

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exploite is \ɛks.plwat\ while explosive is \ɛk.splɔ.ziv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31602, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exploite is recorded at frequency rank #11,770, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛks.plwat\. explosive is at rank #19,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.splɔ.ziv\.

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 31602, this pair ranks #302,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of exploite vs explosive

Shared letters: eilopx. Private to "exploite": t. Private to "explosive": sv.

"exploite" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV  ·  "explosive" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exploiteepxloite · exlpoite · expliote · explloite · exploiet · exploitte · explotie · expolite
  • explosiveepxlosive · exlposive · expllosive · exploisve · explosiev · explosivve · explossive · explosvie

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "exploite" for "explosive" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exploite" is a verb and "explosive" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "exploite" or "explosive"?
"exploite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,770 in our French list, against #19,832 for "explosive". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "exploite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "explosive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #302,786 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exploite" and "explosive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exploite vs explorée". 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 #302,786 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