Which to use
“adhere” is a verb and “ashore” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,452
- “adhere” frequency rank
- #14,467
- “ashore” frequency rank
- 27919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adhere | ashore |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To stick fast or cleave, as a glutinous substance does; to become joined or united. | On the land as opposed to onboard. |
Where the eye mixes adhere and ashore
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. adhere and ashore follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: adhere vs ashore
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: adhere is /ædˈhɪə/ while ashore is /əˈʃɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27919, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adhere is recorded at frequency rank #13,452, classified as averb, pronounced /ædˈhɪə/. ashore is at rank #14,467, tagged as anadv, pronounced /əˈʃɔː/.
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 27919, this pair ranks #375,078 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of adhere vs ashore
Shared letters: aehr. Private to "adhere": d. Private to "ashore": os.
"adhere" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "ashore" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "adhere" and "ashore" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "adhere" or "ashore" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "adhere" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ashore" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,078 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adhere" and "ashore" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ashoka vs ashore". 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 #375,078 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.