APKvsaskWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#31,064
“APK” frequency rank
#453
“ask” frequency rank
31517
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature APK ask
Definition An APK file, or an Android app distributed via APK files. To request or petition.

Letter map: APK vs ask

Shared letters muted; letters that set APK and ask apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
APK
3 ch
ask

Role in the sentence - APK and ask

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: APK is anoun and askaverb. On the page they differ by a single letter - p in “APK” becomes s in “ask”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

APK is recorded at frequency rank #31,064, classified as anoun. ask is at rank #453, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɑːsk/.

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 31517, this pair ranks #345,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of APK vs ask

Shared letters: ak. Private to "APK": p. Private to "ask": s.

"APK" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ask" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "APK" for "ask" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "APK" is a noun and "ask" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "APK" or "ask"?
"ask" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #453 in our English list, against #31,064 for "APK". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "APK" and "ask".

  • Full dictionary entry for "APK" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ask" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #345,437 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "APK" and "ask" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amb vs APK". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #345,437 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