activosvsarchivosWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,857
“activos” frequency rank
#2,541
“archivos” frequency rank
5398
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature activos archivos
Definition Forma del plural de activo. Forma del plural de archivo

Where the eye mixes activos and archivos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
activos
8 ch
archivos

Visual trap between activos and archivos

A purely visual mix-up. activos ([akˈt̪iβ̞os]) and archivos ([aɾˈt͡ʃiβ̞os]) 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 5398, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

activos is recorded at frequency rank #2,857, classified as anoun, pronounced [akˈt̪iβ̞os]. archivos is at rank #2,541, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aɾˈt͡ʃiβ̞os].

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 5398, this pair ranks #313,725 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of activos vs archivos

Shared letters: aciosv. Private to "activos": t. Private to "archivos": hr.

"activos" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "archivos" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • activosacctivos · acitvos · actibos · actiovs · activoss · activso · activvos · acttivos
  • archivosacrhivos · arcchivos · archhivos · archibos · archiovs · archivoss · archivso · archivvos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "activos" and "archivos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([akˈt̪iβ̞os] versus [aɾˈt͡ʃiβ̞os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "activos" or "archivos" show up more?
"archivos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,541 in our Spanish list, against #2,857 for "activos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "activos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "archivos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #313,725 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "activos" and "archivos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "archives vs archivos". 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 #313,725 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