fautifsvsfautiveWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“fautifs” and “fautive” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#37,809
“fautifs” frequency rank
#40,269
“fautive” frequency rank
78078
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fautifs fautive
Definition Masculin pluriel de fautif. Féminin singulier de fautif.

Where the eye mixes fautifs and fautive

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. fautifs (CVVCVCC) and fautive (CVVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
fautifs
7 ch
fautive

Why the eye confuses fautifs with fautive

A purely visual mix-up. fautifs (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78078, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fautifs is recorded at frequency rank #37,809, 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 78078, this pair ranks #26,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of fautifs vs fautive

Shared letters: afitu. Private to "fautifs": s. Private to "fautive": ev.

"fautifs" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC  ·  "fautive" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fautifsafutifs · fatuifs · fauitfs · fautfis · fautiffs · fautifss · fautisf · fauttifs
  • fautiveafutive · fatuive · fauitve · fautiev · fautivve · fauttive · fautvie · ffautive

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fautifs" and "fautive" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fo.tif\ versus \fo.tiv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fautifs" or "fautive"?
"fautifs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,809 in our French list, against #40,269 for "fautive". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "fautifs" 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 #26,682 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fautifs" 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 #26,682 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