Which to use
“offensive” is a noun and “offensives” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,684
- “offensive” frequency rank
- #20,512
- “offensives” frequency rank
- 26196
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | offensive | offensives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Attaque que l’on fait sans avoir été provoqué par l’adversaire. | Féminin pluriel de offensif. |
Same sound, different letters: offensive vs offensives
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. offensive runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCV) against offensives's 10 (VCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - offensive and offensives
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: offensive and offensives carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɔ.fɑ̃.siv\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “offensive” sits inside “offensives”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26196, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
offensive is recorded at frequency rank #5,684, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.fɑ̃.siv\. offensives is at rank #20,512, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɔ.fɑ̃.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 26196, this pair ranks #336,554 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of offensive vs offensives
Shared letters: efinosv. Private to "offensive": -. Private to "offensives": -.
"offensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "offensives" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- offensive ← fofensive · ofefnsive · ofensive · offenisve · offennsive · offensiev · offensivve · offenssive
- offensives ← fofensives · ofefnsives · ofensives · offenisves · offennsives · offensievs · offensivess · offensivse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "offensive" for "offensives" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "offensive" or "offensives" show up more?
Useful next steps
"offensive" and "offensives" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "offensive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "offensives" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #336,554 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "offensive" and "offensives" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "offensés vs offensives". 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 #336,554 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.