Which to use
“award” is a noun and “awash” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,385
- “award” frequency rank
- #38,739
- “awash” frequency rank
- 40124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | award | awash |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A judgment, sentence, or final decision. Specifically: The decision of arbitrators in a case submitted. | Washed by the waves or tide (of a rock or strip of shore, or of an anchor, etc., when flush with the surface of the water, so that the waves break over it); covered with water. |
Where the eye mixes award and awash
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: award vs awash
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: award is /əˈwɔːd/ while awash is /əˈwɒʃ/. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
award is recorded at frequency rank #1,385, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈwɔːd/. awash is at rank #38,739, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əˈwɒʃ/.
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 40124, this pair ranks #270,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of award vs awash
Shared letters: aw. Private to "award": dr. Private to "awash": hs.
"award" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "awash" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "award" for "awash" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "award" or "awash" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "award" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "awash" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #270,477 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "award" and "awash" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "awash vs aways". 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 #270,477 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.