Which to use
“await” is a verb and “awake” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,374
- “await” frequency rank
- #5,658
- “awake” frequency rank
- 18032
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | await | awake |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To wait for. | Not asleep; conscious. |
Where the eye mixes await and awake
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: await is /əˈweɪt/ while awake is /əˈweɪk/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18032, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
await is recorded at frequency rank #12,374, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈweɪt/. awake is at rank #5,658, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əˈweɪk/.
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 18032, this pair ranks #447,562 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of await vs awake
Shared letters: aw. Private to "await": it. Private to "awake": ek.
"await" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "awake" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV