akevsalsTell them apart

Quick tell: ake is a verb, als is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ake” is a verb and “als” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,292
“ake” frequency rank
#17,755
“als” frequency rank
64047
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ake als
Definition Obsolete spelling of ache. Obsolete form of also.

Letter map: ake vs als

Shared letters muted; letters that set ake and als apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
ake
3 ch
als

Role in the sentence - ake and als

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ake is averb and alsanadverb. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64047, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ake is recorded at frequency rank #46,292, classified as averb, pronounced /eɪk/. als is at rank #17,755, tagged as anadv.

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 64047, this pair ranks #79,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ake vs als

Shared letters: a. Private to "ake": ek. Private to "als": ls.

"ake" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "als" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ake" and "als" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ake" is a verb and "als" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ake" vs "als" - which ranks higher?
"als" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,755 in our English list, against #46,292 for "ake". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "ake" and "als". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "als" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,732 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ake" and "als" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ake vs amb". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #79,732 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