acrobaticvsacrobaticsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: acrobatic is a adjective, acrobatics is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#36,416
“acrobatic” frequency rank
#39,179
“acrobatics” frequency rank
75595
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acrobatic acrobatics
Definition Of or pertaining to an acrobat. The art of performing acrobatic gymnastic feats.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set acrobatic and acrobatics apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
acrobatic
10 ch
acrobatics

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: acrobatic is anadjective and acrobaticsanoun. On the page they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “acrobatic” sits inside “acrobatics”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acrobatic is recorded at frequency rank #36,416, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˌækɹəˈbætɪk/. acrobatics is at rank #39,179, tagged as anoun.

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 75595, this pair ranks #32,643 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of acrobatic vs acrobatics

Shared letters: abciort. Private to "acrobatic": -. Private to "acrobatics": s.

"acrobatic" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC  ·  "acrobatics" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • acrobaticaccrobatic · acorbatic · acrboatic · acroabtic · acrobaitc · acrobatci · acrobaticc · acrobattic
  • acrobaticsaccrobatics · acorbatics · acrboatics · acroabtics · acrobaitcs · acrobatcis · acrobaticcs · acrobaticss

Frequency comparison

acrobatic#36,416
acrobatics#39,179

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acrobatic" and "acrobatics" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "acrobatic" is an adjective and "acrobatics" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "acrobatic" or "acrobatics"?
"acrobatic" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,416 in our English list, against #39,179 for "acrobatics". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering acrobatic vs acrobatics

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “acrobatic”; for a noun, it's “acrobatics”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “acrobatic” 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