AchsevsAscheTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,432
“Achse” frequency rank
#7,008
“Asche” frequency rank
14440
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Achse Asche
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 Verbrennungsrückstand

Where the eye mixes Achse and Asche

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

5 ch
Achse
5 ch
Asche

Look-alike desk: Achse vs Asche

A purely visual mix-up. Achse ([ˈaksə]) 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 are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14440, 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]. 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 14440, this pair ranks #1,951,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Achse vs Asche

Shared letters: acehs. Private to "Achse": -. Private to "Asche": -.

"Achse" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "Asche" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Achseacchse · aches · achhse · achsse · ahcse · cahse
  • Ascheacshe · ascche · asceh · aschhe · ashce · assche

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Achse" and "Asche" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaksə] versus [ˈaʃə]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "Achse" or "Asche" show up more?
"Asche" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,008 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Achse" 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 #1,951,208 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Achse" and "Asche" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Aisch vs Asche". 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 #1,951,208 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