achtvsAscheConfusable pair

Quick tell: acht is a num, Asche is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“acht” is a num and “Asche” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#899
“acht” frequency rank
#7,008
“Asche” frequency rank
7907
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature acht Asche
Definition die Kardinalzahl zwischen sieben und neun Verbrennungsrückstand

Where the eye mixes acht and Asche

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. acht runs 4 letters (VCCC) against Asche's 5 (VCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
acht
5 ch
Asche

Why the eye confuses acht with Asche

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acht is [axt] while Asche is [ˈaʃə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7907, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

acht is recorded at frequency rank #899, classified as anum, pronounced [axt]. 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 7907, this pair ranks #1,986,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of acht vs Asche

Shared letters: ach. Private to "acht": t. Private to "Asche": es.

"acht" · 4 letters · shape VCCC  ·  "Asche" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • achtaccht · achht · achtt · acth · ahct · caht
  • Ascheacshe · ascche · asceh · aschhe · ashce · assche

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "acht" for "Asche" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "acht" is a num and "Asche" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "acht" or "Asche"?
"acht" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #899 in our German list, against #7,008 for "Asche". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "acht" 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 #1,986,382 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "acht" 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 #1,986,382 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