ahoivsapiWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ahoi is a intj, api is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ahoi” is an intj and “api” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,909
“ahoi” frequency rank
#20,828
“api” frequency rank
50737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ahoi api
Definition bei der Schifffahrt gebräuchlicher Ausruf, um ein anderes Schiff anzurufen oder auf dieses aufmerksam zu machen Feuer; Hitze und Licht, das von etwas ausgeht, das brennt

Letter map: ahoi vs api

Shared letters muted; letters that set ahoi and api apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
ahoi
3 ch
api

Role in the sentence - ahoi and api

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ahoi is anintj and apianoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ahoi is recorded at frequency rank #29,909, classified as anintj, pronounced [aˈhɔɪ̯]. api is at rank #20,828, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 50737, this pair ranks #1,162,395 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ahoi vs api

Shared letters: ai. Private to "ahoi": ho. Private to "api": p.

"ahoi" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "api" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ahoiahhoi · ahio · aohi · haoi

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ahoi" for "api" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ahoi" is an intj and "api" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ahoi" or "api" show up more?
"api" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,828 in our German list, against #29,909 for "ahoi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "ahoi" vs "api" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ahoi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "api" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,162,395 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ahoi" and "api" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ahoi vs Ahr". 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 #1,162,395 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