apevsasíConfusable pair

Quick tell: ape is a noun, así is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ape” is a noun and “así” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#45,736
“ape” frequency rank
#55
“así” frequency rank
45791
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ape así
Definition Espalda. De este modo o forma.

Where the eye mixes ape and así

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ape
3 ch
así

Look-alike desk: ape vs así

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ape is [aˈpe] while así is [aˈsi]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45791, 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]. así is at rank #55, tagged as anadv, pronounced [aˈsi].

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 45791, this pair ranks #129,436 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs así

Shared letters: a. Private to "ape": ep. Private to "así": .

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "así" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ape" for "así" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ape" is a noun and "así" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "ape" or "así" show up more?
"así" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #55 in our Spanish list, against #45,736 for "ape". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "así" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #129,436 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ape" and "así" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ape vs apis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #129,436 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