Which to use
“positif” and “positifs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,846
- “positif” frequency rank
- #6,543
- “positifs” frequency rank
- 9389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | positif | positifs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est certain, constant et sûr. | Masculin pluriel de positif. |
Same sound, different letters: positif vs positifs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. positif runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against positifs's 8 (CVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - positif / positifs
This is the hard kind. positif and positifs are pronounced identically (\pɔ.zi.tif\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “positif” sits inside “positifs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
positif is recorded at frequency rank #2,846, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɔ.zi.tif\. positifs is at rank #6,543, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔ.zi.tif\.
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 9389, this pair ranks #416,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of positif vs positifs
Shared letters: fiopst. Private to "positif": -. Private to "positifs": -.
"positif" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "positifs" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "positif" for "positifs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "positif" vs "positifs" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "positif" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "positifs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,825 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "positif" and "positifs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "politics vs positifs". 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 #416,825 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.