agresiónvsagresivaConfusable pair

Quick tell: agresión is a noun, agresiva is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“agresión” is a noun and “agresiva” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,455
“agresión” frequency rank
#11,341
“agresiva” frequency rank
16796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agresión agresiva
Definition Acción agredir a alguna persona o cosa con el fin de ocasionarle un daño. Forma del femenino de agresivo.

Where the eye mixes agresión and agresiva

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. agresión (VCCVCVVC) and agresiva (VCCVCVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
agresión
8 ch
agresiva

Visual trap between agresión and agresiva

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agresión is [aɣ̞ɾeˈsjõn] while agresiva is [aɣ̞ɾeˈsiβ̞a]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agresión is recorded at frequency rank #5,455, classified as anoun, pronounced [aɣ̞ɾeˈsjõn]. 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 16796, this pair ranks #274,720 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of agresión vs agresiva

Shared letters: aegirs. Private to "agresión": . Private to "agresiva": v.

"agresión" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "agresiva" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agresivaagersiva · aggresiva · agreciva · agreisva · agresiav · agresiba · agresivva · agressiva

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "agresión" for "agresiva" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "agresión" is a noun and "agresiva" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "agresión" or "agresiva" show up more?
"agresión" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,455 in our Spanish list, against #11,341 for "agresiva". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "agresión" and "agresiva" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "agresión" 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 #274,720 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "agresión" and "agresiva" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "agredida vs agresiva". 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 #274,720 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