activavsactivoTell them apart

Which to use

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

#2,434
“activa” frequency rank
#2,435
“activo” frequency rank
4869
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature activa activo
Definition Forma del femenino singular de activo. Que es capaz de causar efecto o ser fuente de acciones.

Where the eye mixes activa and activo

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
activa
6 ch
activo

Visual trap between activa and activo

A purely visual mix-up. activa ([akˈt̪iβ̞a]) and activo ([akˈt̪iβ̞o]) 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 a single letter - a in “activa” becomes o in “activo”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4869, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

activa is recorded at frequency rank #2,434, classified as anadj, pronounced [akˈt̪iβ̞a]. activo is at rank #2,435, tagged as anadj, pronounced [akˈt̪iβ̞o].

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 4869, this pair ranks #315,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of activa vs activo

Shared letters: acitv. Private to "activa": -. Private to "activo": o.

"activa" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "activo" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • activaacctiva · acitva · actiav · actiba · activva · acttiva · actvia · atciva
  • activoacctivo · acitvo · actibo · actiov · activvo · acttivo · actvio · atcivo

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "activa" and "activo" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([akˈt̪iβ̞a] versus [akˈt̪iβ̞o]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "activa" or "activo" show up more?
"activa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,434 in our Spanish list, against #2,435 for "activo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "activa" and "activo" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "activa" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "activo" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #315,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "activa" and "activo" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "activo vs aditivo". 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 #315,043 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list