arisevsaroseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“arise” and “arose” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#7,882
“arise” frequency rank
#10,649
“arose” frequency rank
18531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arise arose
Definition To come up from a lower to a higher position. simple past of arise

Where the eye mixes arise and arose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
arise
5 ch
arose

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. arise (/əˈɹaɪz/) and arose (/əˈɹoʊz/) 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 a single letter - i in “arise” becomes o in “arose”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arise is recorded at frequency rank #7,882, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈɹaɪz/. arose is at rank #10,649, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈɹoʊz/.

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 18531, this pair ranks #444,252 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of arise vs arose

Shared letters: aers. Private to "arise": i. Private to "arose": o.

"arise" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "arose" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ariseairse · arisse · arrise · arsie
  • aroseaorse · aroes · arosse · arrose · arsoe · raose

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "arise" and "arose" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/əˈɹaɪz/ versus /əˈɹoʊz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "arise" or "arose"?
"arise" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,882 in our English list, against #10,649 for "arose". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list