Which to use
“intenses” and “intensives” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,603
- “intenses” frequency rank
- #43,509
- “intensives” frequency rank
- 55112
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intenses | intensives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de intense. | Féminin pluriel de intensif. |
Where the eye mixes intenses and intensives
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. intenses runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against intensives's 10 (VCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses intenses with intensives
A purely visual mix-up. intenses (\ɛ̃.tɑ̃s\) and intensives (\ɛ̃.tɑ̃.siv\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intenses is recorded at frequency rank #11,603, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃s\. intensives is at rank #43,509, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.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 55112, this pair ranks #129,601 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of intenses vs intensives
Shared letters: einst. Private to "intenses": -. Private to "intensives": v.
"intenses" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "intensives" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- intenses ← inetnses · inntenses · inteness · intennses · intensess · intensses · intesnes · intneses
- intensives ← inetnsives · inntensives · intenisves · intennsives · intensievs · intensivess · intensivse · intensivves
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "intenses" and "intensives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "intenses" or "intensives" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "intenses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intensives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #129,601 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intenses" and "intensives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intensifs vs intensives". 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 #129,601 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.