ape vs asa, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#28,095
“ape” frequency rank: #7,104
“asa” frequency rank: 35199
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ape	asa
Definition	comida para cavalos	membro de um animal que serve para o voo

Where the eye mixes ape and asa

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

3 ch

ape

3 ch

asa

Look-alike desk: ape vs asa

A purely visual mix-up. ape (/ˈɑ.pe/) and asa (/ˈa.zɐ/) 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 35199, 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/. asa is at rank #7,104, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈa.zɐ/.

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 35199, this pair ranks #31,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ape vs asa

Shared letters: a. Private to "ape": ep. Private to "asa": s.

"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "asa" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ape" and "asa" mean the same thing in a sentence?

No. They are said differently (/ˈɑ.pe/ versus /ˈa.zɐ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "ape" vs "asa" - which ranks higher?

"asa" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,104 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.

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 "asa" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #31,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ape" and "asa" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "acs vs ape". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #31,886 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.