Which to use
“air” is a noun and “aus” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #2,699
- “air” frequency rank
- #32
- “aus” frequency rank
- 2731
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | air | aus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Luft, Atmosphäre, Luftraum | von drinnen nach draußen |
Where the eye mixes air and aus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between air and aus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: air is [ɛə(ɹ)] 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 (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2731, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
air is recorded at frequency rank #2,699, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɛə(ɹ)]. 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 2731, this pair ranks #2,001,709 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of air vs aus
Shared letters: a. Private to "air": ir. Private to "aus": su.
"air" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "air" and "aus" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "air" or "aus"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "air" and "aus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "air" 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 #2,001,709 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "air" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "air vs AUD". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #2,001,709 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.