intuitionvsintuitiveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: intuition is a noun, intuitive is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“intuition” is a noun and “intuitive” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,020
“intuition” frequency rank
#28,213
“intuitive” frequency rank
38233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intuition intuitive
Definition Vision claire et certaine de Dieu telle que les bienheureux l’ont dans le ciel. Féminin singulier de intuitif.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set intuition and intuitive apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
intuition
9 ch
intuitive

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

intuition and intuitive form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38233, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intuition is recorded at frequency rank #10,020, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɥi.sjɔ̃\. intuitive is at rank #28,213, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɥi.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 38233, this pair ranks #256,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Frequency comparison

intuition#10,020
intuitive#28,213

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intuition" and "intuitive" be used interchangeably?
No, "intuition" and "intuitive" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering intuition vs intuitive

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “intuition”; for an adjective, it's “intuitive”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “intuition” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list