aesvsassesTell them apart

Which to use

“aes” and “asses” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,806
“aes” frequency rank
#9,699
“asses” frequency rank
38505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aes asses
Definition plural of a, the name of the letter A. plural of ass

Where the eye mixes aes and asses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aes runs 3 letters (VVC) against asses's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
aes
5 ch
asses

Look-alike desk: aes vs asses

A purely visual mix-up. aes (/ˈeɪz/) and asses (/ˈæsɪz/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38505, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aes is recorded at frequency rank #28,806, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈeɪz/. asses is at rank #9,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæsɪz/.

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 38505, this pair ranks #285,343 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aes vs asses

Shared letters: aes. Private to "aes": -. Private to "asses": -.

"aes" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "asses" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • asses ← ases · assse · sases

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "aes" and "asses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈeɪz/ versus /ˈæsɪz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "aes" vs "asses" - which ranks higher?
"asses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,699 in our English list, against #28,806 for "aes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #285,343 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aes" and "asses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aes 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 #285,343 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list