adicciónvsafecciónTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,902
“adicción” frequency rank
#23,290
“afección” frequency rank
32192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adicción afección
Definition Estado de dependencia psicológica y fisiológica, asociado con el ansia, un alivio temporal y consecuencias negativas a largo plazo, junto con un impedimento para controlarlo, de modo que la persona desea dejarlo y no puede; como adicción al alcohol, drogas o, a prácticas como los juegos, las compras, el trabajo, etc. Apego o inclinación de una persona a otra por afecto o cariño.

Where the eye mixes adicción and afección

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

8 ch
adicción
8 ch
afección

Visual trap between adicción and afección

A purely visual mix-up. adicción ([að̞ikˈsjõn]) and afección ([afekˈsjõn]) 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 32192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adicción is recorded at frequency rank #8,902, classified as anoun, pronounced [að̞ikˈsjõn]. afección is at rank #23,290, tagged as anoun, pronounced [afekˈsjõn].

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 32192, this pair ranks #203,273 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adicción vs afección

Shared letters: acinó. Private to "adicción": d. Private to "afección": ef.

"adicción" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVVC  ·  "afección" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "adicción" and "afección" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([að̞ikˈsjõn] versus [afekˈsjõn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "adicción" or "afección" show up more?
"adicción" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,902 in our Spanish list, against #23,290 for "afección". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "adicción" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "afección" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #203,273 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adicción" and "afección" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "afección vs aflicción". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #203,273 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