apevsappleConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#28,095
“ape” frequency rank
#4,286
“apple” frequency rank
32381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ape apple
Definition comida para cavalos maçã

Where the eye mixes ape and apple

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

3 ch
ape
5 ch
apple

Why the eye confuses ape with apple

A purely visual mix-up. ape (/ˈɑ.pe/) and apple (/ˈæ.pl̩/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ape is recorded at frequency rank #28,095, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈɑ.pe/. apple is at rank #4,286, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæ.pl̩/ ouvir^(fonte ?).

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 32381, this pair ranks #35,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs apple

Shared letters: aep. Private to "ape": -. Private to "apple": l.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "apple" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • appleaple · aplpe · applle

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ape" for "apple" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɑ.pe/ versus /ˈæ.pl̩/ ouvir^(fonte ?)) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ape" or "apple" show up more?
"apple" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,286 in our Portuguese list, against #28,095 for "ape". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apple" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ape" and "apple" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ape". 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 #35,442 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list