Which to use
“expensive” and “explosive” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,071
- “expensive” frequency rank
- #7,444
- “explosive” frequency rank
- 9515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | expensive | explosive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a high price or cost. | Able to, or likely to, explode. |
Where the eye mixes expensive and explosive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between expensive and explosive
A purely visual mix-up. expensive (/ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/) and explosive (/ɛkˈspləʊsɪv/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
expensive is recorded at frequency rank #2,071, classified as anadj, pronounced /ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/. explosive is at rank #7,444, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɛkˈspləʊsɪv/.
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 9515, this pair ranks #497,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of expensive vs explosive
Shared letters: eipsvx. Private to "expensive": n. Private to "explosive": lo.
"expensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "explosive" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "expensive" and "explosive" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "expensive" or "explosive"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "expensive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "explosive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #497,023 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "expensive" and "explosive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "expansive vs explosive". 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 #497,023 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.