ahavsausWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: aha is a intj, aus is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aha” is an intj and “aus” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,760
“aha” frequency rank
#32
“aus” frequency rank
4792
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aha aus
Definition Ausruf des Verstehens von drinnen nach draußen

Where the eye mixes aha and aus

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

3 ch
aha
3 ch
aus

Look-alike desk: aha vs aus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aha is [aˈha] while aus is [aʊ̯s]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aha is recorded at frequency rank #4,760, classified as anintj, pronounced [aˈha]. aus is at rank #32, tagged as aprep, pronounced [aʊ̯s].

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 4792, this pair ranks #1,996,658 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aha vs aus

Shared letters: a. Private to "aha": h. Private to "aus": su.

"aha" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aha" for "aus" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aha" is an intj and "aus" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aha" or "aus"?
"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our German list, against #4,760 for "aha". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aha" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,996,658 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aha" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aha vs AUD". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,996,658 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list