Which to use
“army” and “arse” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #921
- “army” frequency rank
- #13,462
- “arse” frequency rank
- 14383
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | army | arse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A large, highly organized military force, concerned mainly with ground (rather than air or naval) operations. | A person's buttocks; the bottom, the backside. Also: the anus; the rectum. |
Where the eye mixes army and arse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between army and arse
A purely visual mix-up. army (/ˈɑː.mi/) and arse (/ɑːs/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
army is recorded at frequency rank #921, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑː.mi/. arse is at rank #13,462, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɑːs/.
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 14383, this pair ranks #470,368 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of army vs arse
Shared letters: ar. Private to "army": my. Private to "arse": es.
"army" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "arse" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "army" for "arse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "army" or "arse"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "army" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #470,368 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "army" and "arse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arco vs arse". 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 #470,368 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.