ake vs awed, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#46,292
“ake” frequency rank: #45,213
“awed” frequency rank: 91505
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ake	awed
Definition	Obsolete spelling of ache.	simple past and past participle of awe

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ake and awed apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

ake

4 ch

awed

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. ake (/eɪk/) and awed (/ɔːd/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 91505, 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/. awed is at rank #45,213, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɔːd/.

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 91505, this pair ranks #3,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ake vs awed

Shared letters: ae. Private to "ake": k. Private to "awed": dw.

"ake" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "awed" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

awed ← aewd · awedd · awwed

Frequency comparison

ake#46,292

awed#45,213

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ake" and "awed" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/eɪk/ versus /ɔːd/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "ake" or "awed"?

"awed" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,213 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.

Remembering ake vs awed

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ake” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable