Which to use
“able” is an adjective and “Akte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,552
- “able” frequency rank
- #8,506
- “Akte” frequency rank
- 47058
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | able | Akte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in der Lage sein; etwas tun können | Sammlung von Aufzeichnungen, die inhaltlich zusammengehören |
Where the eye mixes able and Akte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. able and Akte follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses able with Akte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: able is [ˈeɪbl] while Akte is [ˈaktə]. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
able is recorded at frequency rank #38,552, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈeɪbl]. Akte is at rank #8,506, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaktə].
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 47058, this pair ranks #1,297,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of able vs Akte
Shared letters: ae. Private to "able": bl. Private to "Akte": kt.
"able" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "Akte" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "able" and "Akte" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "able" or "Akte"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "able" and "Akte" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "able" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Akte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,297,621 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "able" and "Akte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "able vs Atze". 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 #1,297,621 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.