agapevsawakeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#44,043
“agape” frequency rank
#5,658
“awake” frequency rank
49701
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agape awake
Definition In a state of astonishment, wonder, expectation, or eager attention; as with mouth hanging open. Not asleep; conscious.

Where the eye mixes agape and awake

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
agape
5 ch
awake

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. agape (/əˈɡeɪp/) and awake (/əˈweɪk/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49701, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agape is recorded at frequency rank #44,043, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈɡeɪp/. awake is at rank #5,658, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əˈweɪk/.

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 49701, this pair ranks #181,151 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agape vs awake

Shared letters: ae. Private to "agape": gp. Private to "awake": kw.

"agape" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "awake" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • agapeaagpe · agaep · agappe · aggape · agpae · gaape
  • awakeaawke · awaek · awakke · awkae · awwake · waake

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agape" and "awake" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/əˈɡeɪp/ versus /əˈweɪk/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "agape" or "awake"?
"awake" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,658 in our English list, against #44,043 for "agape". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list