Which to use
“adaption” and “adaptor” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,104
- “adaption” frequency rank
- #44,595
- “adaptor” frequency rank
- 84699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adaption | adaptor |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Alternative form of adaptation. | Alternative spelling of adapter. |
Where the eye mixes adaption and adaptor
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: adaption vs adaptor
A purely visual mix-up. adaption (/əˈdæpʃən/) and adaptor (/əˈdæptər/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adaption is recorded at frequency rank #40,104, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈdæpʃən/. adaptor is at rank #44,595, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈdæptər/.
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 84699, this pair ranks #11,627 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of adaption vs adaptor
Shared letters: adopt. Private to "adaption": in. Private to "adaptor": r.
"adaption" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVVC · "adaptor" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "adaption" and "adaptor" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "adaption" or "adaptor"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "adaption" and "adaptor" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "adaption" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adaptor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,627 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adaption" and "adaptor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adaptor vs adopter". 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 #11,627 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.