Which to use
“explosive” is a noun and “explosives” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19,832
- “explosive” frequency rank
- #30,152
- “explosives” frequency rank
- 49984
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | explosive | explosives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Consonne à tension croissante. | Féminin pluriel de explosif. |
Where the eye mixes explosive and explosives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses explosive with explosives
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: explosive is \ɛk.splɔ.ziv\ while explosives is \ɛks.plo.ziv\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “explosive” sits inside “explosives”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
explosive is recorded at frequency rank #19,832, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.splɔ.ziv\. explosives is at rank #30,152, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛks.plo.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 49984, this pair ranks #166,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of explosive vs explosives
Shared letters: eilopsvx. Private to "explosive": -. Private to "explosives": -.
"explosive" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV · "explosives" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- explosive ← epxlosive · exlposive · expllosive · exploisve · explosiev · explosivve · explossive · explosvie
- explosives ← epxlosives · exlposives · expllosives · exploisves · explosievs · explosivess · explosivse · explosivves
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "explosive" and "explosives" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "explosive" or "explosives" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "explosive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "explosives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #166,233 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "explosive" and "explosives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exclusives vs explosives". 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 #166,233 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.