Which to use
“able” is an adjective and “ample” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #352
- “able” frequency rank
- #10,978
- “ample” frequency rank
- 11330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | able | ample |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Having the necessary powers or the needed resources to accomplish a task. | A fully sufficient or abundant quantity of; enough or more than enough. |
Where the eye mixes able and ample
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between able and ample
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: able is /ˈeɪ.bl̩/ while ample is /ˈæm.pəl/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
able is recorded at frequency rank #352, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈeɪ.bl̩/. ample is at rank #10,978, tagged as adet, pronounced /ˈæm.pəl/.
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 11330, this pair ranks #487,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of able vs ample
Shared letters: ael. Private to "able": b. Private to "ample": mp.
"able" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ample" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "able" for "ample" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "able" or "ample" 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 "able" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ample" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #487,648 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "able" and "ample" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ample vs APL". 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 #487,648 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.