Which to use
“acute” is an adjective and “agate” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,091
- “acute” frequency rank
- #36,422
- “agate” frequency rank
- 43513
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acute | agate |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Brief, quick, short. | A semitransparent, uncrystallized silicate mineral and semiprecious stone, presenting various tints in the same specimen, with colors delicately arranged and often curved in parallel alternating dark and light stripes or bands, or blended in clouds; various authorities call it a variety of chalcedony, a variety of quartz, or a combination of the two. |
Where the eye mixes acute and agate
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses acute with agate
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acute is /əˈkjuːt/ while agate is /ˈæɡ.ɪt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acute is recorded at frequency rank #7,091, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈkjuːt/. agate is at rank #36,422, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæɡ.ɪt/.
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 43513, this pair ranks #239,302 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of acute vs agate
Shared letters: aet. Private to "acute": cu. Private to "agate": g.
"acute" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "agate" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "acute" for "agate" ever safe?
Which is more common, "acute" or "agate"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "acute" and "agate" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "acute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "agate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,302 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acute" and "agate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abated vs agate". 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 #239,302 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.