ASL

name

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

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

The verdict

“ASL” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,821 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.

#28,821
frequency rank, English
3
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Initialism of American Sign Language.

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)

Where “ASL” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). ASL lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for ASL is 3 letters long, classified as a proper noun. Corpus data places it at rank #28,821 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

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.

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.

Using “ASL”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is A-S-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “at” - see the side-by-side comparison. ASL vs at
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list