asevsazConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#43,779
“ase” frequency rank
#23,772
“az” frequency rank
67551
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ase az
Definition Plante herbacée vivace de la famille des Apiaceae, dont l’espèce la plus connue est l’ase fétide (Ferula assa-foetida). Première lettre de l’alphabet glagolitique, Ⰰ.

Same sound, different letters: ase vs az

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 1 letter.

3 ch
ase
2 ch
az

Same sound, different spelling - ase / az

This is the hard kind. ase and az are pronounced identically (\az\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67551, 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\. az is at rank #23,772, 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 67551, this pair ranks #62,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ase vs az

Shared letters: a. Private to "ase": es. Private to "az": z.

"ase" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "az" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ase" for "az" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\az\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "ase" or "az" show up more?
"az" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,772 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

You've separated the homophone pair "ase" / "az". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ase" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "az" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #62,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ase" and "az" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ase vs aves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #62,925 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