akevsasheWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ake is a verb, ashe is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#46,292
“ake” frequency rank
#24,985
“ashe” frequency rank
71277
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ake ashe
Definition Obsolete spelling of ache. Alternative form of ase.

Letter map: ake vs ashe

Shared letters muted; letters that set ake and ashe apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. ake runs 3 letters (VCV) against ashe's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ake
4 ch
ashe

Grammar separator: ake vs ashe

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ake is averb and asheanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71277, 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/. ashe is at rank #24,985, tagged as anoun.

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 71277, this pair ranks #47,346 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ake vs ashe

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ake": k. Private to "ashe": hs.

"ake" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ashe" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ashe ← ahse · aseh · ashhe · asshe · sahe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ake" and "ashe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ake" is a verb and "ashe" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ake" vs "ashe" - which ranks higher?
"ashe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,985 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.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ake" and "ashe".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ake" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ashe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,346 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ake" and "ashe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ake 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 #47,346 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