Which to use
“anse” and “ase” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,059
- “anse” frequency rank
- #43,779
- “ase” frequency rank
- 59838
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | anse | ase |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie saillante, souvent de forme annulaire, servant à saisir ou à porter certains récipients ou objets. | Plante herbacée vivace de la famille des Apiaceae, dont l’espèce la plus connue est l’ase fétide (Ferula assa-foetida). |
Where the eye mixes anse and ase
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: anse vs ase
A purely visual mix-up. anse (\ɑ̃s\) and ase (\az\) 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 59838, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
anse is recorded at frequency rank #16,059, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃s\. ase is at rank #43,779, tagged as anoun, pronounced \az\.
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 59838, this pair ranks #100,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of anse vs ase
Shared letters: aes. Private to "anse": n. Private to "ase": -.
"anse" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ase" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- anse ← anes · annse · ansse · asne · nase
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "anse" and "ase" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "anse" or "ase"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "anse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,926 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "anse" and "ase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ase vs aves". 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 #100,926 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.