Which to use
“aggressive” is an adjective and “aggressively” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,135
- “aggressive” frequency rank
- #12,358
- “aggressively” frequency rank
- 16493
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aggressive | aggressively |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Characterized by aggression; highly combative; prone to behave in a way that involves attacking (especially if unjustly) or arguing. | In an aggressive manner. |
Letter map: aggressive vs aggressively
Shared letters muted; letters that set aggressive and aggressively apart highlighted. Shared run: 10.
Grammar separator: aggressive vs aggressively
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: aggressive is anadjective and aggressivelyanadverb. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “aggressive” sits inside “aggressively”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aggressive is recorded at frequency rank #4,135, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈɡɹɛs.ɪv/. aggressively is at rank #12,358, tagged as anadv.
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 16493, this pair ranks #457,399 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aggressive vs aggressively
Shared letters: aegirsv. Private to "aggressive": -. Private to "aggressively": ly.
"aggressive" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCV · "aggressively" · 12 letters · shape VCCCVCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- aggressive ← aggerssive · aggresisve · aggresive · aggressiev · aggressivve · aggressvie · aggrressive · aggrsesive
- aggressively ← aggerssively · aggresisvely · aggresively · aggressievly · aggressivelly · aggressivelyy · aggressiveyl · aggressivley
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "aggressive" and "aggressively" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "aggressive" or "aggressively"?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "aggressive" and "aggressively".
- Full dictionary entry for "aggressive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aggressively" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #457,399 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aggressive" and "aggressively" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aggression vs aggressive". 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 #457,399 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.