ASL

name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"asl" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“ASL” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #28,821) as a proper noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#28,821
frequency rank, English
3,931
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Initialism of American Sign Language.

Corpus desk

Index EN-asl · ASL · English

ASL · rank #28,821 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,821
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,931
  • PHOTO-FINISH arr

Nearest frequency peer: arr (-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 neighbours of confusable “ASL”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “ASL” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ASL vs at
0% similar
ASL vs aw
0% similar
ASL vs AU
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ASL
PropertyValue
HeadwordASL
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters3
Frequency rank#28,821
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “ASL”

This scale runs from the tiny cluster of words that carry ordinary speech (left) to the long tail of words almost nobody reaches for (right).ASLlands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “arr” (#28,820), “austere” (#28,822), “armpit” (#28,819). Among 3,931 “A” headwords, “ASL” is #28,821. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ASL is neighbouring look-alikes ("at", "aw", …), not just typos; it is aproper noun. Frequency #28,821 among 3,931 “A” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for ASL, since its letter pattern doesn't lend itself to common typo substitutions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "at", "aw", "AU", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Wiktionary doesn't record an etymology for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct English form is ASL, spelled A-S-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Initialism of American Sign Language.
  2. 2
    Initialism of Advanced Squad Leader.
  3. 3
    Initialism of Apache Software License.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how ASL appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Whereas American Sign Language could have extended into Nicaragua by the 1980s, as it did in neighboring Costa Rica where it combined with a locally developed sign language in the 1960s, Nicaragua’s geo-political isolation prevented ASL from entering the country, notes Shepard-Kegl.

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ASL"?
"ASL" is spelled A-S-L.
What does "ASL" mean?
As a proper noun, "ASL" means: Initialism of American Sign Language.
What words are commonly confused with "ASL"?
"ASL" is commonly confused with "at", "aw", "AU". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "ASL" come from?
"ASL" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "ASL", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

arr#28,820bab#28,825AOC#28,816aes#28,806

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list