Which to use
“acme” is a noun and “ake” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,104
- “acme” frequency rank
- #46,292
- “ake” frequency rank
- 79396
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acme | ake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A high point: the highest point of any range, the most developed stage of any process, or the culmination of any field or historical period. | Obsolete spelling of ache. |
Where the eye mixes acme and ake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. acme runs 4 letters (VCCV) against ake's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: acme vs ake
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: acme is /ˈæk.mi/ while ake is /eɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acme is recorded at frequency rank #33,104, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæk.mi/. ake is at rank #46,292, tagged as averb, pronounced /eɪk/.
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 79396, this pair ranks #22,189 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of acme vs ake
Shared letters: ae. Private to "acme": cm. Private to "ake": k.
"acme" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ake" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- acme ← accme · acem · acmme
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "acme" for "ake" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "acme" or "ake" 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 "acme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ake" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #22,189 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "acme" and "ake" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ake vs amb". 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 #22,189 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.