apevsapisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ape” and “apis” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#45,736
“ape” frequency rank
#49,423
“apis” frequency rank
95159
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ape apis
Definition Espalda. Abeja.

Where the eye mixes ape and apis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ape runs 3 letters (VCV) against apis's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
ape
4 ch
apis

Visual trap between ape and apis

A purely visual mix-up. ape ([aˈpe]) and apis (/ˈa.pis/) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 95159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ape is recorded at frequency rank #45,736, classified as anoun, pronounced [aˈpe]. apis is at rank #49,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.pis/.

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 95159, this pair ranks #634 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs apis

Shared letters: ap. Private to "ape": e. Private to "apis": is.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "apis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apis ← aips · apiss · appis · apsi · pais

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ape" and "apis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently ([aˈpe] versus /ˈa.pis/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ape" vs "apis" - which ranks higher?
"ape" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #45,736 in our Spanish list, against #49,423 for "apis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #634 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ape" and "apis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alió vs apis". 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 #634 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list