agravarvsagregarWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#35,329
“agravar” frequency rank
#4,475
“agregar” frequency rank
39804
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agravar agregar
Definition Hacer más grave, serio o molesto. Desmejorar, empeorar. Añadir unas cosas o personas a otras del mismo tipo o juntar varias cosas similares.

Where the eye mixes agravar and agregar

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

7 ch
agravar
7 ch
agregar

Why the eye confuses agravar with agregar

A purely visual mix-up. agravar ([aɣ̞ɾaˈβ̞aɾ]) and agregar ([aɣ̞ɾeˈɣ̞aɾ]) 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 39804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agravar is recorded at frequency rank #35,329, classified as averb, pronounced [aɣ̞ɾaˈβ̞aɾ]. agregar is at rank #4,475, tagged as averb, pronounced [aɣ̞ɾeˈɣ̞aɾ].

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 39804, this pair ranks #162,545 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agravar vs agregar

Shared letters: agr. Private to "agravar": v. Private to "agregar": e.

"agravar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "agregar" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agravar ← agarvar · aggravar · agraavr · agrabar · agravarr · agravra · agravvar · agrravar
  • agregar ← agergar · aggregar · agreagr · agregarr · agreggar · agregra · agrgear · agrregar

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agravar" and "agregar" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([aɣ̞ɾaˈβ̞aɾ] versus [aɣ̞ɾeˈɣ̞aɾ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "agravar" or "agregar"?
"agregar" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,475 in our Spanish list, against #35,329 for "agravar". 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 "agravar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "agregar" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #162,545 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "agravar" and "agregar" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "agravar vs atracar". 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 #162,545 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