acciónvsadiciónWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“acción” and “adición” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#639
“acción” frequency rank
#12,747
“adición” frequency rank
13386
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acción adición
Definition Acto de llevar a cabo algo; desgaste de energía que produce unos resultados. Acción o efecto de sumar, añadir, agregar o adicionar.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set acción and adición apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
acción
7 ch
adición

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. acción ([akˈsjõn]) and adición ([að̞iˈsjõn]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13386, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acción is recorded at frequency rank #639, classified as anoun, pronounced [akˈsjõn]. adición is at rank #12,747, tagged as anoun, pronounced [að̞iˈsjõn].

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 13386, this pair ranks #288,057 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of acción vs adición

Shared letters: acinó. Private to "acción": -. Private to "adición": d.

"acción" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC  ·  "adición" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC

Frequency comparison

acción#639
adición#12,747

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "acción" and "adición" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([akˈsjõn] versus [að̞iˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "acción" or "adición"?
"acción" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #639 in our Spanish list, against #12,747 for "adición". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering acción vs adición

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “acción” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list