Which to use
“axe” and “axes” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,703
- “axe” frequency rank
- #16,846
- “axes” frequency rank
- 26549
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | axe | axes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A tool for felling trees or chopping wood etc. consisting of a heavy head flattened to a blade on one side, and a handle attached to it. | plural of ax |
Where the eye mixes axe and axes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: axe vs axes
A purely visual mix-up. axe (/æks/) and axes (/ˈæksəz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “axe” sits inside “axes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26549, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
axe is recorded at frequency rank #9,703, classified as anoun, pronounced /æks/. axes is at rank #16,846, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæksəz/.
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 26549, this pair ranks #385,874 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of axe vs axes
Shared letters: aex. Private to "axe": -. Private to "axes": s.
"axe" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "axes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- axes ← aexs · axess · axse · axxes · xaes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "axe" for "axes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "axe" vs "axes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "axe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "axes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #385,874 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "axe" and "axes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aris vs axes". 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 #385,874 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.