Plural of axe/ax: bladed tools for chopping or felling.

• By extension, dismissals or severe cuts, especially jobs or budgets.
• Informal: musicians’ instruments, especially guitars or saxophones.

Cuts or chops with an axe.

• Dismisses, terminates, slashes, or cancels abruptly.

Plural of axis: imaginary lines of rotation or symmetry.

• Reference lines in graphs and coordinate systems.
• Central stems in biology, or principal lines and coalitions.