Which to use
“across” is a preposition and “actress” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #556
- “across” frequency rank
- #3,273
- “actress” frequency rank
- 3829
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | across | actress |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To, toward, or from the far side of (something that lies between two points of interest). | A female who performs on the stage or in films. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set across and actress apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: across is /əˈkɹɒs/ while actress is /ˈæk.tɹɪs/. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3829, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
across is recorded at frequency rank #556, classified as aprep, pronounced /əˈkɹɒs/. actress is at rank #3,273, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæk.tɹɪs/.
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 3829, this pair ranks #520,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of across vs actress
Shared letters: acrs. Private to "across": o. Private to "actress": et.
"across" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "actress" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "across" and "actress" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "across" or "actress"?
Remembering across vs actress
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “across”; for a noun, it's “actress”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “across” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable