Which to use
“intensif” is an adjective and “intensité” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,396
- “intensif” frequency rank
- #5,045
- “intensité” frequency rank
- 21441
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | intensif | intensité |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | À quoi on fait dépasser la mesure ordinaire. | Haut niveau ou degré ; propriété de ce qui est intense. |
Where the eye mixes intensif and intensité
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. intensif runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against intensité's 9 (VCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between intensif and intensité
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: intensif is \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sif\ while intensité is \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.te\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21441, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
intensif is recorded at frequency rank #16,396, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sif\. intensité is at rank #5,045, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.si.te\.
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 21441, this pair ranks #363,154 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of intensif vs intensité
Shared letters: einst. Private to "intensif": f. Private to "intensité": é.
"intensif" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "intensité" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- intensif ← inetnsif · inntensif · intenisf · intennsif · intensfi · intensiff · intenssif · intesnif
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "intensif" and "intensité" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "intensif" or "intensité" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "intensif" and "intensité" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "intensif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "intensité" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #363,154 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "intensif" and "intensité" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intensif vs inventif". 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 #363,154 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.