aside vs aspire, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“aside” is an adverb and “aspire” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,513
“aside” frequency rank: #15,572
“aspire” frequency rank: 18085
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	aside	aspire
Definition	To or on one side so as to be out of the way.	To have a strong desire or ambition to achieve something.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aside and aspire apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

aside

6 ch

aspire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aside is /əˈsaɪd/ while aspire is /əˈspaɪə(ɹ)/. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18085, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aside is recorded at frequency rank #2,513, classified as anadv, pronounced /əˈsaɪd/. aspire is at rank #15,572, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈspaɪə(ɹ)/.

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 18085, this pair ranks #447,215 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aside vs aspire

Shared letters: aeis. Private to "aside": d. Private to "aspire": pr.

"aside" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "aspire" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

aside ← aisde · asdie · asidde · asied · asside · saide
aspire ← apsire · asipre · aspier · aspirre · asppire · asprie · asspire · sapire

Frequency comparison

aside#2,513

aspire#15,572

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aside" and "aspire" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aside" is an adverb and "aspire" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "aside" or "aspire"?

"aside" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,513 in our English list, against #15,572 for "aspire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aside vs aspire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adverb, it's “aside”; for a verb, it's “aspire”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aside” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable