agesvsapexTell them apart

Which to use

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

#48,682
“ages” frequency rank
#36,183
“apex” frequency rank
84865
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ages apex
Definition Plural des Substantivs age die Kegelspitze

Where the eye mixes ages and apex

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ages and apex follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
ages
4 ch
apex

Look-alike desk: ages vs apex

A purely visual mix-up. ages ([ˈeɪdʒɪz]) and apex ([a.peks]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84865, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ages is recorded at frequency rank #48,682, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈeɪdʒɪz]. apex is at rank #36,183, tagged as anoun, pronounced [a.peks].

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 84865, this pair ranks #117,051 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ages vs apex

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ages": gs. Private to "apex": px.

"ages" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "apex" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ages ← aegs · agess · agges
  • apex ← aepx · apexx · appex · apxe · paex

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ages" for "apex" ever safe?
No. They are said differently ([ˈeɪdʒɪz] versus [a.peks]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ages" or "apex"?
"apex" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,183 in our German list, against #48,682 for "ages". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apex" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #117,051 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ages" and "apex" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ages vs avis". 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 #117,051 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