intensifsvsintensivesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,876
“intensifs” frequency rank
#43,509
“intensives” frequency rank
63385
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intensifs intensives
Definition Masculin pluriel de intensif. Féminin pluriel de intensif.

Where the eye mixes intensifs and intensives

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. intensifs runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCC) against intensives's 10 (VCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
intensifs
10 ch
intensives

Visual trap between intensifs and intensives

A purely visual mix-up. intensifs (\ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sif\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intensifs is recorded at frequency rank #19,876, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sif\. 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 63385, this pair ranks #82,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of intensifs vs intensives

Shared letters: einst. Private to "intensifs": f. Private to "intensives": v.

"intensifs" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCC  ·  "intensives" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • intensifs ← inetnsifs · inntensifs · intenisfs · intennsifs · intensfis · intensiffs · intensifss · intensisf
  • intensives ← inetnsives · inntensives · intenisves · intennsives · intensievs · intensivess · intensivse · intensivves

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "intensifs" and "intensives" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.tɑ̃.sif\ versus \ɛ̃.tɑ̃.siv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "intensifs" or "intensives" show up more?
"intensifs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,876 in our French list, against #43,509 for "intensives". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "intensifs" and "intensives" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intensifs" 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 #82,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intensifs" and "intensives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "intensive 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 #82,219 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