amplevsamuseWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ample is a determiner, amuse is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ample” is a determiner and “amuse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,978
“ample” frequency rank
#24,652
“amuse” frequency rank
35630
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ample amuse
Definition A fully sufficient or abundant quantity of; enough or more than enough. To entertain or occupy (someone or something) in a pleasant manner; to stir (someone) with pleasing emotions.

Where the eye mixes ample and amuse

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

5 ch
ample
5 ch
amuse

Look-alike desk: ample vs amuse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ample is /ˈæm.pəl/ while amuse is /əˈmjuːz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ample is recorded at frequency rank #10,978, classified as adet, pronounced /ˈæm.pəl/. amuse is at rank #24,652, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈmjuːz/.

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 35630, this pair ranks #310,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ample vs amuse

Shared letters: aem. Private to "ample": lp. Private to "amuse": su.

"ample" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "amuse" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ampleamlpe · ammple · ampel · amplle · ampple · apmle
  • amuseammuse · amsue · amues · amusse · aumse · mause

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ample" and "amuse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ample" is a determiner and "amuse" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ample" vs "amuse" - which ranks higher?
"ample" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,978 in our English list, against #24,652 for "amuse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ample" and "amuse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ample" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #310,315 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ample" and "amuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amuse vs amuses". 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 #310,315 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