arevsAUXWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: are is a verb, AUX is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“are” is a verb and “AUX” is an abbrev - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,019
“are” frequency rank
#18,814
“AUX” frequency rank
22833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature are AUX
Definition 2. Person Singular Indikativ Präsens des Verbs be Kürzel für einen zusätzlichen Eingang zur freien Verwendung (bei Geräten wie zum Beispiel Verstärkern)

Letter map: are vs AUX

Shared letters muted; letters that set are and AUX apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
are
3 ch
AUX

Role in the sentence - are and AUX

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: are is averb and AUXanabbrev. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

are is recorded at frequency rank #4,019, classified as averb, pronounced [ə]. AUX is at rank #18,814, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced […].

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 22833, this pair ranks #1,869,170 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of are vs AUX

Shared letters: a. Private to "are": er. Private to "AUX": ux.

"are" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "AUX" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "are" for "AUX" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "are" is a verb and "AUX" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "are" or "AUX"?
"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,019 in our German list, against #18,814 for "AUX". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "are" and "AUX".

  • Full dictionary entry for "are" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "AUX" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,869,170 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "are" and "AUX" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "AUX vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,869,170 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