Which to use
“adolescence” is a noun and “adolescent” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #18,003
- “adolescence” frequency rank
- #13,277
- “adolescent” frequency rank
- 31280
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adolescence | adolescent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The transitional period of physical and psychological development between childhood and maturity, beginning at the onset of puberty and with an endpoint defined either legally (at the age of majority, such as 18 in many jurisdictions) or psychocognitively (at various ages, depending on individual experience). | Of, relating to, or at the age of adolescence; at the stage between being a child and an adult. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set adolescence and adolescent apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
adolescence and adolescent form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31280, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adolescence is recorded at frequency rank #18,003, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˌædəˈlɛsəns/. adolescent is at rank #13,277, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˌæd.əˈlɛs.ənt/.
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 31280, this pair ranks #347,453 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "adolescence" and "adolescent" be used interchangeably?
Remembering adolescence vs adolescent
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “adolescence”; for an adjective, it's “adolescent”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “adolescence” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable