AchsevsAchteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,432
“Achse” frequency rank
#6,756
“Achte” frequency rank
14188
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Achse Achte
Definition lotrechte oder waagerechte Gerade oder Linie, die unveränderlich ist, und eine Mittellinie, um die sich ein Körper dreht; gedachte Gerade mit besonderen Symmetrie-Eigenschaften Synonym für den Monat August im kaufmännischen und Verwaltungsbereich

Where the eye mixes Achse and Achte

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
Achse
5 ch
Achte

Why the eye confuses Achse with Achte

A purely visual mix-up. Achse ([ˈaksə]) and Achte ([ˈaxtə]) 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 a single letter - s in “Achse” becomes t in “Achte”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Achse is recorded at frequency rank #7,432, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaksə]. Achte is at rank #6,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaxtə].

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 14188, this pair ranks #1,952,973 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Achse vs Achte

Shared letters: aceh. Private to "Achse": s. Private to "Achte": t.

"Achse" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "Achte" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Achseacchse · aches · achhse · achsse · ahcse · cahse
  • Achteacchte · achet · achhte · achtte · acthe · ahcte · cahte

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Achse" for "Achte" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaksə] versus [ˈaxtə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Achse" or "Achte"?
"Achte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,756 in our German list, against #7,432 for "Achse". 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 "Achse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Achte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,952,973 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Achse" and "Achte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Achte vs achtete". 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 #1,952,973 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