ARD vs Award, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ARD” is an abbrev and “Award” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,353
“ARD” frequency rank: #6,636
“Award” frequency rank: 9989
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ARD	Award
Definition	Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland	Preis, der von einer Jury verliehen wird

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ARD and Award apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

ARD

5 ch

Award

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ARD is [aʔɛɐ̯ˈdeː] while Award is [əˈwɔːd]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ARD” sits inside “Award”, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ARD is recorded at frequency rank #3,353, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [aʔɛɐ̯ˈdeː]. Award is at rank #6,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced [əˈwɔːd].

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 9989, this pair ranks #1,977,314 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ARD vs Award

Shared letters: adr. Private to "ARD": -. Private to "Award": w.

"ARD" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "Award" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

Award ← aawrd · awadr · awardd · awarrd · awrad · awward · waard

Frequency comparison

ARD#3,353

Award#6,636

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ARD" and "Award" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ARD" is an abbrev and "Award" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ARD" or "Award"?

"ARD" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,353 in our German list, against #6,636 for "Award". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ARD vs Award

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an abbrev, it's “ARD”; for a noun, it's “Award”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ARD” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable