Which to use
“aced” and “asked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,285
- “aced” frequency rank
- #499
- “asked” frequency rank
- 46784
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aced | asked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of ace | simple past and past participle of ask |
Where the eye mixes aced and asked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses aced with asked
A purely visual mix-up. aced (/eɪst/) and asked (/ˈɑːskt/) 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 46784, 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/. asked is at rank #499, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɑːskt/.
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 46784, this pair ranks #208,508 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aced vs asked
Shared letters: ade. Private to "aced": c. Private to "asked": ks.
"aced" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "asked" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aced" for "asked" ever safe?
Which is more common, "aced" or "asked"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "aced" and "asked" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aced" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "asked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #208,508 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aced" and "asked" 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 #208,508 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.