apivsASSWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: api is a noun, ASS is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#20,828
“api” frequency rank
#6,039
“ASS” frequency rank
26867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature api ASS
Definition Feuer; Hitze und Licht, das von etwas ausgeht, das brennt Acetylsalicylsäure

Letter map: api vs ASS

Shared letters muted; letters that set api and ASS apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
api
3 ch
ASS

Role in the sentence - api and ASS

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: api is anoun and ASSanabbrev. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

api is recorded at frequency rank #20,828, classified as anoun, pronounced […]. ASS is at rank #6,039, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [aʔɛsˈʔɛs].

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 26867, this pair ranks #1,811,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of api vs ASS

Shared letters: a. Private to "api": ip. Private to "ASS": s.

"api" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ASS" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "api" for "ASS" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "api" is a noun and "ASS" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "api" or "ASS" show up more?
"ASS" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,039 in our German list, against #20,828 for "api". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "api" and "ASS". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "api" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ASS" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,811,125 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "api" and "ASS" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "api vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,811,125 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