abravsAshaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: abra is a noun, Asha is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“abra” is a noun and “Asha” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,507
“abra” frequency rank
#33,518
“Asha” frequency rank
76025
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abra Asha
Definition a narrow mountain or mesa pass A female given name from Sanskrit used in India.

Letter map: abra vs Asha

Shared letters muted; letters that set abra and Asha apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. abra and Asha follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

4 ch
abra
4 ch
Asha

Role in the sentence - abra and Asha

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: abra is anoun and Ashaaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76025, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abra is recorded at frequency rank #42,507, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæbɹə/. Asha is at rank #33,518, tagged as aname.

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 76025, this pair ranks #31,287 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abra vs Asha

Shared letters: a. Private to "abra": br. Private to "Asha": hs.

"abra" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "Asha" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • abra ← abar · abbra
  • Asha ← ahsa · asah · ashha · saha

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abra" for "Asha" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abra" is a noun and "Asha" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "abra" or "Asha"?
"Asha" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,518 in our English list, against #42,507 for "abra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "abra" and "Asha".

  • Full dictionary entry for "abra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Asha" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #31,287 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abra" and "Asha" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abra vs Asta". 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 #31,287 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list