Which to use
“addictive” and “additive” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,722
- “addictive” frequency rank
- #18,746
- “additive” frequency rank
- 31468
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | addictive | additive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causing or tending to cause addiction; habit-forming. | Pertaining to addition; that can be, or has been, added. |
Where the eye mixes addictive and additive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: addictive vs additive
A purely visual mix-up. addictive (/əˈdɪktɪv/) and additive (/ˈæd.ɪ.tɪv/) 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 31468, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
addictive is recorded at frequency rank #12,722, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈdɪktɪv/. additive is at rank #18,746, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈæd.ɪ.tɪv/.
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 31468, this pair ranks #345,839 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of addictive vs additive
Shared letters: adeitv. Private to "addictive": c. Private to "additive": -.
"addictive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "additive" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "addictive" for "additive" ever safe?
Which is more common, "addictive" or "additive"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "addictive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "additive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #345,839 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "addictive" and "additive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "addicting vs addictive". 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 #345,839 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.