agave
/əˈɡɑːveɪ/
"agave" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“agave” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #39,671 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #39,671
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Any plant in the large, variable genus Agave of succulent plants, commonly armed with formidable prickles, flowering at maturity after several years, and generally dying thereafter; large species, ...
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 | agave |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈɡɑːveɪ/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #39,671 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “agave” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for agave is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈɡɑːveɪ/. Corpus data places it at rank #39,671 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Any plant in the large, variable genus Agave of succulent plants, commonly armed with formidable prickles, flowering at maturity after several years, and generally dying thereafter; large species, ...".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for agave, with forms such as "aagve", "agaev", and "agavve". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "age", "ave", "agree", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀγαυή (Agauḗ, “Agave”), from ἀγαυός (agauós, “noble, illustrious”). The correct English form is agave, spelled A-G-A-V-E.
Definition
- 1Any plant in the large, variable genus Agave of succulent plants, commonly armed with formidable prickles, flowering at maturity after several years, and generally dying thereafter; large species, such as the maguey or century plant, (Agave americana), produce gigantic inflorescences. Several are of economic importance as sources of fibre such as sisal, and alcoholic beverages such as tequila.
Etymology
Learned borrowing from Ancient Greek Ἀγαυή (Agauḗ, “Agave”), from ἀγαυός (agauós, “noble, illustrious”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aagve,agaev,agavve,aggave,agvae,gaave
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of agave - 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
How do you spell "agave"?
What does "agave" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "agave"?
How do you pronounce "agave"?
What is the origin of the word "agave"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “agave”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-G-A-V-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈɡɑːveɪ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “age” - see the side-by-side comparison. agave vs age
- 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.