These two adjectives are very close in meaning, but distinct—both can mean important, “meaningful, worthwhile, valuable, or not empty.” The essential difference is between having substance (substantial) and making substance (substantive).
Only substantial can be used for physical things, and amounts:
Mike has a substantial/*substantive belly.
Jane has a substantial/*substantive bank account.
In these sentences, substantial means large, and substantive makes no sense.
Often both words can be used, with the sense of “important” or “valuable”:
Julia made a substantial/substantive contribution to the project.
In the sentence above, substantial means large while substantive means valuable.
Substantive means “creating substance or adding to value.” So, we could say:
Julia’s contributions to the project were substantial but not substantive.
This means that she made a lot of contributions, but they were not very important.
More Examples of “Substantial” in a Sentence
- But there had been a lack of substantial neuroimaging evidence to substantiate the idea.
- They all have substantial short interest, and each has traded substantially lower this year.
- With substantially fewer games, there was a substantial drop in ticket sale revenue from the previous season.
- Over the past century we have made substantial advances in all these areas.
- And, as with the theme park, it requires a substantial investment of time.
More Examples of “Substantive” in a Sentence
- Until we get a substantive improvement in market sentiment, stay away from Apache.
- The need for more substantive corporate change is already in front of us.
- Yet the consequences in terms of substantive policy have been significantly more limited.
- Don and Sandra could never come up with a substantive argument to support their claim.
- The result was far fewer interruptions and a more substantive discussion of issues.