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PlainSpell

ask

UK /ɑːsk/verb, noun

ask is spelled A-S-K: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 219 times per million words in written English, the 460th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “ask vs axe” about 170 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, ask means “To request (information, or an answer to a question)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in ask?

Letters3: A-S-K
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing219 times per million words; the 460th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is ask?

Ask appears 219 times per million words in written English, the 460th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce ask?

  • UK /ɑːsk/
  • /ask/
  • /ɑːks/

Ask has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-to_ask.ogg, En-us-ask.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with ask

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

ask vs ax10 B
ask vs axe170 G

Also written: ax, axe.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with ask?

2 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as ask from its last stressed vowel (/ɑsk/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: ska, aks, kas.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of ask

  • asks present, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • asking participle, present
  • asked participle, past, singular, he/she/it, plural
  • aks
  • ax
  • asker
  • ascar
  • askerd
  • askard

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does ask mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

verb

  1. 1

    To request (information, or an answer to a question).

    I asked her age.

  2. 2

    To request or enquire of (a person).

    I asked her (for) her age.

  3. 3

    To request (an item or service) (see also ask for).

    to ask for a second helping at dinner

  4. 4

    To request (someone to do something).

    Emma asked Jim to close his eyes.

  5. 5

    To request permission (to do something).

    She asked to see the doctor.

  6. 6

    To put forward (a question) to be answered.

    to ask a question

  7. 7

    To require, demand, claim, or expect, whether by way of remuneration or return, or as a matter of necessity.

    What price are you asking for the house?

  8. 8

    To invite.

    Don’t ask them to the wedding.

noun

  1. 1

    informalAn act or instance of asking.

  2. 2

    informalSomething asked or asked for.

    I know this is a big ask, but …

  3. 3

    informalAn asking price.

  4. 4

    informalA message sent to a blog on social networking platform Tumblr, which can be publicly posted and replied to by the recipient.

  5. 5

    ScotlandinformalAn eft; newt.

  6. 6

    informalA lizard.

noun

as ASK
  1. 1

    Initialism of amplitude shift keying.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Ask in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchdemander, poser une question (request an answer)
Germanfragen, stellen (request an answer), bitten (make a request)
Portugueseperguntar (request an answer), pedir, solicitar, requerer, requisitar (make a request)
Spanishpreguntar, preduntar (request an answer), pedir, requerir (make a request)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does ask come from?

From Middle English asken, axen, from Old English āscian, from Proto-West Germanic *aiskōn, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂eys- (“to wish; request”).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after ask