acevsAscheWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ace” and “Asche” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,347
“ace” frequency rank
#7,008
“Asche” frequency rank
23355
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ace Asche
Definition Nominativ-Akkusativ Plural des Substantivs ac ohne Artikel Verbrennungsrückstand

Where the eye mixes ace and Asche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ace
5 ch
Asche

Why the eye confuses ace with Asche

A purely visual mix-up. ace ([ˈat͡ʃe]) and Asche ([ˈaʃə]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23355, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ace is recorded at frequency rank #16,347, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈat͡ʃe]. Asche is at rank #7,008, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaʃə].

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 23355, this pair ranks #1,862,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ace vs Asche

Shared letters: ace. Private to "ace": -. Private to "Asche": hs.

"ace" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "Asche" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ascheacshe · ascche · asceh · aschhe · ashce · assche

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ace" and "Asche" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([ˈat͡ʃe] versus [ˈaʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ace" or "Asche"?
"Asche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,008 in our German list, against #16,347 for "ace". 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 "ace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Asche" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,862,365 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ace" and "Asche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ace vs AUD". 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 #1,862,365 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list