arkvsauaWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ark is a noun, aua is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ark” is a noun and “aua” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,793
“ark” frequency rank
#11,007
“aua” frequency rank
47800
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ark aua
Definition eine große Kiste mit einem flachen Deckel Ausruf des Schmerzes

Where the eye mixes ark and aua

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

3 ch
ark
3 ch
aua

Look-alike desk: ark vs aua

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ark is [ɑːk] while aua is [ˈaʊ̯a]. 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 intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47800, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ark is recorded at frequency rank #36,793, classified as anoun, pronounced [ɑːk]. aua is at rank #11,007, tagged as anintj, pronounced [ˈaʊ̯a].

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 47800, this pair ranks #1,271,532 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ark vs aua

Shared letters: a. Private to "ark": kr. Private to "aua": u.

"ark" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "aua" · 3 letters · shape VVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ark" for "aua" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ark" is a noun and "aua" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ark" or "aua" show up more?
"aua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,007 in our German list, against #36,793 for "ark". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ark" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aua" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,271,532 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ark" and "aua" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ark vs AUD". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,271,532 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