AokivsasksTell them apart

Quick tell: Aoki is a name, asks is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“Aoki” is a name and “asks” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#34,776
“Aoki” frequency rank
#3,348
“asks” frequency rank
38124
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Aoki asks
Definition A surname from Japanese. third-person singular simple present indicative of ask

Where the eye mixes Aoki and asks

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Aoki
4 ch
asks

Why the eye confuses Aoki with asks

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Aoki is /eɪˈoʊki/ while asks is /ɑːsks/. 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 (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Aoki is recorded at frequency rank #34,776, classified as aname, pronounced /eɪˈoʊki/. asks is at rank #3,348, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɑːsks/.

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 38124, this pair ranks #288,622 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Aoki vs asks

Shared letters: ak. Private to "Aoki": io. Private to "asks": s.

"Aoki" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "asks" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Aokiakoi · aoik · aokki · oaki
  • asksakss · askks · askss · assk · assks · saks

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Aoki" for "asks" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Aoki" is a name and "asks" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Aoki" or "asks"?
"asks" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,348 in our English list, against #34,776 for "Aoki". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Aoki" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asks" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #288,622 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Aoki" and "asks" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ake vs Aoki". 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 #288,622 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