abrasive
/əˈbɹeɪ.sɪv/
"abrasive" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“abrasive” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #21,713 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #21,713
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 2
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Producing abrasion; rough enough to wear away the outer surface.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | abrasive |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈbɹeɪ.sɪv/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #21,713 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 2 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “abrasive” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for abrasive is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈbɹeɪ.sɪv/. Corpus data places it at rank #21,713 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for abrasive, with forms such as "abarsive", "abbrasive", and "abraisve". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "abusive", "abrasion", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Medieval Latin abrāsīvus The correct English form is abrasive, spelled A-B-R-A-S-I-V-E.
Definition
- 1Producing abrasion; rough enough to wear away the outer surface.
- 2Being rough and coarse in manner or disposition; overly aggressive and causing irritation.
Etymology
From Medieval Latin abrāsīvus
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: abarsive,abbrasive,abraisve,abrasiev,abrasivve,abrassive,abrasvie,abrrasive,abrsaive,arbasive,barasive
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of abrasive - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “abrasive”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-B-R-A-S-I-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbɹeɪ.sɪv/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “abusive” - see the side-by-side comparison. abrasive vs abusive
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.