Which to use
“ape” and “apple” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,334
- “ape” frequency rank
- #1,781
- “apple” frequency rank
- 17115
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ape | apple |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A primate of the superfamily Hominoidea, generally larger than monkeys and distinguished from them by having no tail. | A common, firm, round fruit produced by a tree of the genus Malus. |
Where the eye mixes ape and apple
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ape with apple
A purely visual mix-up. ape (/eɪp/) and apple (/ˈæp.əl/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17115, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ape is recorded at frequency rank #15,334, classified as anoun, pronounced /eɪp/. apple is at rank #1,781, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæp.əl/.
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 17115, this pair ranks #453,538 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ape vs apple
Shared letters: aep. Private to "ape": -. Private to "apple": l.
"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "apple" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- apple ← aple · aplpe · appel · applle · paple
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ape" for "apple" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "ape" or "apple" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ape" and "apple" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apple" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #453,538 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ape" and "apple" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amb vs ape". 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 #453,538 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.