Which to use
“ablaze” and “able” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,424
- “ablaze” frequency rank
- #352
- “able” frequency rank
- 31776
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ablaze | able |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Burning fiercely; in a blaze; on fire. | Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task. |
Where the eye mixes ablaze and able
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ablaze vs able
A purely visual mix-up. ablaze (/əˈbleɪz/) and able (/ˈeɪ.bl̩/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31776, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ablaze is recorded at frequency rank #31,424, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈbleɪz/. able is at rank #352, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈeɪ.bl̩/.
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 31776, this pair ranks #343,309 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ablaze vs able
Shared letters: abel. Private to "ablaze": z. Private to "able": -.
"ablaze" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "able" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ablaze" and "able" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "ablaze" or "able" show up more?
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 "ablaze" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "able" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #343,309 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ablaze" and "able" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abate vs ablaze". 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 #343,309 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.