ache
/ˈeɪk/
"ache" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ache” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #16,397) as a verb. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #16,397
- frequency rank, English
- 35,202
- “A” headwords
- 3
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
Corpus desk
Index EN-ache · ache · English
ache · rank #16,397 · 3 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #16,397
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-LOW 3 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 35,202
- PHOTO-FINISH abduction
Nearest frequency peer: abduction (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “ache”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- yearbook
yearbook
83,609 corpus weight
- yikes
yikes
83,608 corpus weight
- abbot
abbot
83,606 corpus weight
- abduction
abduction
83,605 corpus weight
- ache
ache
83,604 corpus weight
- ancestral
ancestral
83,601 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “ache” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | ache |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈeɪk/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #16,397 |
| Misspellings tracked | 3 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ache” sits in English frequency
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for ache is neighbouring look-alikes ("ah", "AE", …), not just typos; it is averb pronounced /ˈeɪk/. Frequency #16,397 among 35,202 “A” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for ache, with forms such as "achhe", "ahce", and "cahe". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ah", "AE", "are", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English aken (verb), and ache (noun), from Old English acan (verb) (from Proto-West Germanic *akan, from Proto-Germanic *akaną (“to ache”)) and æċe (noun) (from Proto-West Germanic *aki, from Proto-Germanic *akiz), both from Proto-Indo-European … The correct English form is ache, spelled A-C-H-E.
Definition
- 1To suffer pain; to be the source of, or be in, pain, especially continued dull pain; to be distressed.
- 2To cause someone or something to suffer pain.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how ache appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
My feet were aching for days after the marathon.
Every muscle in his body ached.
Etymology
From Middle English aken (verb), and ache (noun), from Old English acan (verb) (from Proto-West Germanic *akan, from Proto-Germanic *akaną (“to ache”)) and æċe (noun) (from Proto-West Germanic *aki, from Proto-Germanic *akiz), both from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eg- (“sin, crime”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian eeke, ääke (“to ache, fester”), Low German aken, achen, äken (“to hurt, ache”), German Low German Eek (“inflammation”), North Frisian akelig, æklig (“terrible, miserable, sharp, intense”), West Frisian aaklik (“nasty, horrible, dismal, dreary”), Dutch akelig (“nasty, horrible”). The verb was originally strong, conjugating for tense like take (e.g. I ake, I oke, I have aken), but gradually became weak during Middle English; the noun was originally pronounced as /eɪt͡ʃ/ as spelled (compare breach, from break). Historically the verb was spelled ake, and the noun ache (even after the form /eɪk/ started to become common for the noun; compare again break which is now also a noun). The verb came to be spelled like the noun when lexicographer Samuel Johnson mistakenly assumed that it derived from Ancient Greek ἄχος (ákhos, “pain”) due to the similarity in form and meaning of the two words.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- achhe
- ahce
- cahe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of ache - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ache", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.