extravagance vs extravagant

Which to use

“extravagance” is a noun and “extravagant” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,551
“extravagance” frequency rank: #17,134
“extravagant” frequency rank: 53685
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	extravagance	extravagant
Definition	Excessive or superfluous expenditure of money.	Exceeding the bounds of something; roving; hence, foreign.

Where the eye mixes extravagance and extravagant

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence.

12 ch

extravagance

11 ch

extravagant

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: extravagance is /ɪkˈstɹævəɡən(t)s/ while extravagant is /ɪkˈstɹævəɡənt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53685, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

extravagance is recorded at frequency rank #36,551, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɪkˈstɹævəɡən(t)s/. extravagant is at rank #17,134, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ɪkˈstɹævəɡənt/.

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 53685, this pair ranks #147,020 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of extravagance vs extravagant

Shared letters: aegnrtvx. Private to "extravagance": c. Private to "extravagant": -.

"extravagance" · 12 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVCCV · "extravagant" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

extravagance ← etxravagance · exrtavagance · extarvagance · extraavgance · extravaagnce · extravagacne · extravagancce · extravaganec
extravagant ← etxravagant · exrtavagant · extarvagant · extraavgant · extravaagnt · extravagannt · extravagantt · extravagatn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "extravagance" and "extravagant" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "extravagance" is a noun and "extravagant" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "extravagance" or "extravagant"?

"extravagant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,134 in our English list, against #36,551 for "extravagance". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.