Which to use
“expensive” and “extensive” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,071
- “expensive” frequency rank
- #3,056
- “extensive” frequency rank
- 5127
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | expensive | extensive |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having a high price or cost. | Having a great extent; covering a large area; vast. |
Where the eye mixes expensive and extensive
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: expensive vs extensive
A purely visual mix-up. expensive (/ɪkˈspɛnsɪv/) and extensive (/ɪkˈstɛn.sɪv/) 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 a single letter - p in “expensive” becomes t in “extensive”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5127, 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/. extensive is at rank #3,056, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪkˈstɛn.sɪv/.
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 5127, this pair ranks #516,484 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of expensive vs extensive
Shared letters: einsvx. Private to "expensive": p. Private to "extensive": t.
"expensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV · "extensive" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "expensive" and "extensive" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "expensive" or "extensive"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "expensive" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "extensive" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #516,484 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "expensive" and "extensive" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "extensible vs extensive". 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 #516,484 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.