Which to use
“acaricia” is a verb and “avaricia” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #31,612
- “acaricia” frequency rank
- #17,353
- “avaricia” frequency rank
- 48965
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acaricia | avaricia |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tercera persona del singular (él, ella, ello; usted, 2.ª persona) del presente de indicativo de acariciar. | Avidez, afán o deseo desmesurado de poseer, especialmente dinero o riquezas, con la intención de acumularlos para uno mismo. |
Where the eye mixes acaricia and avaricia
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. acaricia and avaricia follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between acaricia and avaricia
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acaricia is [akaˈɾisja] while avaricia is [aβ̞aˈɾisja]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “acaricia” becomes v in “avaricia”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48965, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acaricia is recorded at frequency rank #31,612, classified as averb, pronounced [akaˈɾisja]. avaricia is at rank #17,353, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aβ̞aˈɾisja].
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 48965, this pair ranks #111,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of acaricia vs avaricia
Shared letters: acir. Private to "acaricia": -. Private to "avaricia": v.
"acaricia" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV · "avaricia" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "acaricia" and "avaricia" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "acaricia" or "avaricia" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "acaricia" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avaricia" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acaricia" and "avaricia" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acaricia vs acariciaba". 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 #111,529 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.