Which to use
“aced” and “arsed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,285
- “aced” frequency rank
- #41,002
- “arsed” frequency rank
- 87287
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aced | arsed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of ace | simple past and past participle of arse. |
Where the eye mixes aced and arsed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aced runs 4 letters (VCVC) against arsed's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between aced and arsed
A purely visual mix-up. aced (/eɪst/) and arsed (/ɑːst/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87287, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aced is recorded at frequency rank #46,285, classified as averb, pronounced /eɪst/. arsed is at rank #41,002, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɑːst/.
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 87287, this pair ranks #7,833 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of aced vs arsed
Shared letters: ade. Private to "aced": c. Private to "arsed": rs.
"aced" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "arsed" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "aced" and "arsed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "aced" vs "arsed" - which ranks higher?
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 "aced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arsed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #7,833 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aced" and "arsed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aced vs ake". 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 #7,833 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.