APOvsARDTell them apart

Which to use

“APO” and “ARD” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#31,930
“APO” frequency rank
#3,353
“ARD” frequency rank
35283
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature APO ARD
Definition außerparlamentarische Opposition Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland

Where the eye mixes APO and ARD

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

3 ch
APO
3 ch
ARD

Why the eye confuses APO with ARD

A purely visual mix-up. APO ([ˈaːpo]) and ARD ([aʔɛɐ̯ˈdeː]) 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 35283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

APO is recorded at frequency rank #31,930, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [ˈaːpo]. ARD is at rank #3,353, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [aʔɛɐ̯ˈdeː].

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 35283, this pair ranks #1,643,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of APO vs ARD

Shared letters: a. Private to "APO": op. Private to "ARD": dr.

"APO" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ARD" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "APO" and "ARD" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaːpo] versus [aʔɛɐ̯ˈdeː]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary German text, does "APO" or "ARD" show up more?
"ARD" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,353 in our German list, against #31,930 for "APO". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "APO" and "ARD" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "APO" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ARD" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,643,615 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "APO" and "ARD" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "APO vs AUD". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,643,615 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