What is the difference between "arouse" and "rouse" when they are both used as verbs.
They both have similar spelling and it seems, at least to my untrained eyes, their meanings are similar as well.
Thanks for setting this straight for me. :) I mean, it is not like "sleep" and "asleep" where the former is used as a verb or a noun, the latter is used either as an adjective or an adverb...

Question

What is the difference between "arouse" and "rouse" when they are both used as verbs. 
They both have similar spelling and it seems, at least to my untrained eyes, their meanings are similar as well.
Thanks for setting this straight for me. :) I mean, it is not like "sleep" and "asleep" where the former is used as a verb or a noun, the latter is used either as an adjective or an adverb...

Answer

There's not too much of a difference, really. "Rouse" generally means "to awaken" (the boy was roused from his sleep). "Arouse" means "to evoke" or "to excite" (the boy's strange behavior aroused suspicion).