Which to use
“access” is a noun and “accuse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #940
- “access” frequency rank
- #10,975
- “accuse” frequency rank
- 11915
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | access | accuse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A way or means of approaching or entering; an entrance; a passage. | To find fault with, blame, censure. |
Where the eye mixes access and accuse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: access vs accuse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: access is /ˈæksɛs/ while accuse is /əˈkjuːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
access is recorded at frequency rank #940, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæksɛs/. accuse is at rank #10,975, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈkjuːz/.
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 11915, this pair ranks #484,427 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of access vs accuse
Shared letters: aces. Private to "access": -. Private to "accuse": u.
"access" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "accuse" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "access" and "accuse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "access" or "accuse" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "access" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "accuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #484,427 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "access" and "accuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "accursed vs accuse". 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 #484,427 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.