Which to use
“apostate” is an adjective and “apostle” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #43,030
- “apostate” frequency rank
- #15,749
- “apostle” frequency rank
- 58779
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | apostate | apostle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Guilty of apostasy. | A missionary, or leader of a religious mission, especially one in the early Christian Church (but see Apostle). |
Where the eye mixes apostate and apostle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. apostate runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCV) against apostle's 7 (VCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses apostate with apostle
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apostate is /əˈpɒs.teɪt/ while apostle is /əˈpɑsl̩/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
apostate is recorded at frequency rank #43,030, classified as anadj, pronounced /əˈpɒs.teɪt/. apostle is at rank #15,749, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əˈpɑsl̩/.
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 58779, this pair ranks #110,363 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of apostate vs apostle
Shared letters: aeopst. Private to "apostate": -. Private to "apostle": l.
"apostate" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV · "apostle" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "apostate" and "apostle" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "apostate" or "apostle" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "apostate" and "apostle" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "apostate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apostle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #110,363 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "apostate" and "apostle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apostasy vs apostate". 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 #110,363 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.