Which to use
“acre” and “arc” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,877
- “acre” frequency rank
- #5,005
- “arc” frequency rank
- 12882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | acre | arc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An English unit of land area (symbol: a. or ac.) originally denoting a day's ploughing for a yoke of oxen, now standardized as 4,840 square yards or 4,046.86 square metres. | That part of a circle which a heavenly body appears to pass through as it moves above and below the horizon. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set acre and arc apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
acre and arc form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
acre is recorded at frequency rank #7,877, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈeɪ.kə/. arc is at rank #5,005, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɑːk/.
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 12882, this pair ranks #479,012 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "acre" and "arc" be used interchangeably?
Remembering acre vs arc
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “acre” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable