Which to use
“access” and “aces” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #940
- “access” frequency rank
- #17,284
- “aces” frequency rank
- 18224
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | access | aces |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A way or means of approaching or entering; an entrance; a passage. | plural of ace |
Where the eye mixes access and aces
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between access and aces
A purely visual mix-up. access (/ˈæksɛs/) and aces (/ˈeɪ.sɪz/) 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 18224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
access is recorded at frequency rank #940, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæksɛs/. aces is at rank #17,284, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈeɪ.sɪz/.
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 18224, this pair ranks #446,298 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of access vs aces
Shared letters: aces. Private to "access": -. Private to "aces": -.
"access" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "aces" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "access" and "aces" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "access" or "aces" 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 "aces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #446,298 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "access" and "aces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aces vs aris". 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 #446,298 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.