ashvsAxtWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,623
“ash” frequency rank
#11,817
“Axt” frequency rank
34440
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ash Axt
Definition Asche großes, meist mit zwei Händen zu führendes Schlagwerkzeug mit scharfer Klinge (zum Spalten von Holz, zum Zerlegen von Tieren und zu anderem)

Where the eye mixes ash and Axt

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ash
3 ch
Axt

Visual trap between ash and Axt

A purely visual mix-up. ash ([æʃ]) and Axt ([akst]) 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 34440, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ash is recorded at frequency rank #22,623, classified as anoun, pronounced [æʃ]. Axt is at rank #11,817, tagged as anoun, pronounced [akst].

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 34440, this pair ranks #1,663,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ash vs Axt

Shared letters: a. Private to "ash": hs. Private to "Axt": tx.

"ash" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "Axt" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ash" and "Axt" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([æʃ] versus [akst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "ash" or "Axt" show up more?
"Axt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,817 in our German list, against #22,623 for "ash". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ash" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Axt" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,663,301 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ash" and "Axt" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ash vs AUD". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,663,301 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