Which to use
“arsed” and “asked” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,002
- “arsed” frequency rank
- #499
- “asked” frequency rank
- 41501
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arsed | asked |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of arse. | simple past and past participle of ask |
Where the eye mixes arsed and asked
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses arsed with asked
A purely visual mix-up. arsed (/ɑːst/) and asked (/ˈɑːskt/) 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 41501, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arsed is recorded at frequency rank #41,002, classified as averb, pronounced /ɑːst/. asked is at rank #499, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈɑːskt/.
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 41501, this pair ranks #257,791 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of arsed vs asked
Shared letters: ades. Private to "arsed": r. Private to "asked": k.
"arsed" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "asked" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "arsed" and "asked" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "arsed" or "asked" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "arsed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "asked" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,791 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arsed" and "asked" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aced vs arsed". 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 #257,791 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.