Which to use
“able” is an adjective and “ale” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #38,552
- “able” frequency rank
- #22,606
- “ale” frequency rank
- 61158
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | able | ale |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | in der Lage sein; etwas tun können | Ale |
Letter map: able vs ale
Shared letters muted; letters that set able and ale apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Role in the sentence - able and ale
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: able is anadjective and aleanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61158, 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]. ale is at rank #22,606, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].
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 61158, this pair ranks #760,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of able vs ale
Shared letters: ael. Private to "able": b. Private to "ale": -.
"able" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ale" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- able ← abble · ablle · albe · bale
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "able" and "ale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "able" vs "ale" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "able" and "ale".
- Full dictionary entry for "able" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #760,197 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "able" and "ale" 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 #760,197 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.