Which to use
“fautif” and “fautive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,855
- “fautif” frequency rank
- #40,269
- “fautive” frequency rank
- 63124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fautif | fautive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est sujet à faillir, à faire défaut, à faire erreur. | Féminin singulier de fautif. |
Where the eye mixes fautif and fautive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fautif with fautive
A purely visual mix-up. fautif (\fo.tif\) and fautive (\fo.tiv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fautif is recorded at frequency rank #22,855, classified as anadj, pronounced \fo.tif\. fautive is at rank #40,269, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fo.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 63124, this pair ranks #83,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of fautif vs fautive
Shared letters: afitu. Private to "fautif": -. Private to "fautive": ev.
"fautif" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "fautive" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fautif" and "fautive" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "fautif" or "fautive" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "fautif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fautive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #83,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fautif" and "fautive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fautive vs furtive". 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 #83,632 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.