adhesivavsagresivaTell them apart

Which to use

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

#35,845
“adhesiva” frequency rank
#11,341
“agresiva” frequency rank
47186
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adhesiva agresiva
Definition Forma del femenino de adhesivo. Forma del femenino de agresivo.

Where the eye mixes adhesiva and agresiva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. adhesiva and agresiva follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

8 ch
adhesiva
8 ch
agresiva

Why the eye confuses adhesiva with agresiva

A purely visual mix-up. adhesiva ([að̞eˈsiβ̞a]) and agresiva ([aɣ̞ɾeˈsiβ̞a]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47186, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adhesiva is recorded at frequency rank #35,845, classified as anadj, pronounced [að̞eˈsiβ̞a]. agresiva is at rank #11,341, tagged as anadj, pronounced [aɣ̞ɾeˈsiβ̞a].

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 47186, this pair ranks #121,456 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adhesiva vs agresiva

Shared letters: aeisv. Private to "adhesiva": dh. Private to "agresiva": gr.

"adhesiva" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV  ·  "agresiva" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adhesivaaddhesiva · adehsiva · adheciva · adheisva · adhesiav · adhesiba · adhesivva · adhessiva
  • agresivaagersiva · aggresiva · agreciva · agreisva · agresiav · agresiba · agresivva · agressiva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "adhesiva" for "agresiva" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([að̞eˈsiβ̞a] versus [aɣ̞ɾeˈsiβ̞a]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "adhesiva" vs "agresiva" - which ranks higher?
"agresiva" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,341 in our Spanish list, against #35,845 for "adhesiva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adhesiva" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "agresiva" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #121,456 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adhesiva" and "agresiva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adhesiva vs adhesivo". 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 #121,456 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