ashevsassesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#24,985
“ashe” frequency rank
#9,699
“asses” frequency rank
34684
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ashe asses
Definition Alternative form of ase. plural of ass

Letter map: ashe vs asses

Shared letters muted; letters that set ashe and asses apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. ashe runs 4 letters (VCCV) against asses's 5 (VCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
ashe
5 ch
asses

Pair insight - ashe / asses

ashe and asses are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34684, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ashe is recorded at frequency rank #24,985, classified as anoun. asses is at rank #9,699, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæsɪz/.

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 34684, this pair ranks #318,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ashe vs asses

Shared letters: aes. Private to "ashe": h. Private to "asses": -.

"ashe" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "asses" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ashe ← ahse · aseh · ashhe · asshe · sahe
  • asses ← ases · assse · sases

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ashe" and "asses" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
In ordinary English text, does "ashe" or "asses" show up more?
"asses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,699 in our English list, against #24,985 for "ashe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "ashe" and "asses". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ashe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "asses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,636 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ashe" and "asses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ashe vs Asta". 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 #318,636 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