adictosvsadultosWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,046
“adictos” frequency rank
#2,642
“adultos” frequency rank
16688
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adictos adultos
Definition Forma del plural de adicto. Forma del plural de adulto.

Where the eye mixes adictos and adultos

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. adictos and adultos follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
adictos
7 ch
adultos

Why the eye confuses adictos with adultos

A purely visual mix-up. adictos ([aˈð̞ikt̪os]) and adultos ([aˈð̞ul̪t̪os]) 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 16688, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adictos is recorded at frequency rank #14,046, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈð̞ikt̪os]. adultos is at rank #2,642, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aˈð̞ul̪t̪os].

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 16688, this pair ranks #275,154 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of adictos vs adultos

Shared letters: adost. Private to "adictos": ci. Private to "adultos": lu.

"adictos" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "adultos" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adictos ← adcitos · addictos · adicctos · adicots · adictoss · adictso · adicttos · aditcos
  • adultos ← addultos · adlutos · adulltos · adulots · adultoss · adultso · adulttos · adutlos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adictos" and "adultos" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aˈð̞ikt̪os] versus [aˈð̞ul̪t̪os]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "adictos" or "adultos"?
"adultos" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,642 in our Spanish list, against #14,046 for "adictos". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "adictos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "adultos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #275,154 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "adictos" and "adultos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adictos vs añicos". 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 #275,154 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