asevsavaWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ase” and “ava” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#43,779
“ase” frequency rank
#19,748
“ava” frequency rank
63527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ase ava
Definition Plante herbacée vivace de la famille des Apiaceae, dont l’espèce la plus connue est l’ase fétide (Ferula assa-foetida). Kava.

Where the eye mixes ase and ava

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

3 ch
ase
3 ch
ava

Look-alike desk: ase vs ava

A purely visual mix-up. ase (\az\) and ava (\a.va\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ase is recorded at frequency rank #43,779, classified as anoun, pronounced \az\. ava is at rank #19,748, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.va\.

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 63527, this pair ranks #81,527 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ase vs ava

Shared letters: a. Private to "ase": es. Private to "ava": v.

"ase" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ava" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ase" for "ava" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\az\ versus \a.va\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ase" or "ava"?
"ava" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,748 in our French list, against #43,779 for "ase". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ase" and "ava" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ava" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #81,527 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ase" and "ava" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ase vs aves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #81,527 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list