arkvsausWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: ark is a noun, aus is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#36,793
“ark” frequency rank
#32
“aus” frequency rank
36825
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ark aus
Definition eine große Kiste mit einem flachen Deckel von drinnen nach draußen

Where the eye mixes ark and aus

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

3 ch
ark
3 ch
aus

Visual trap between ark and aus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ark is [ɑːk] 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 36825, 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]. 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 36825, this pair ranks #1,605,779 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ark vs aus

Shared letters: a. Private to "ark": kr. Private to "aus": su.

"ark" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ark" and "aus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ark" is a noun and "aus" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ark" or "aus"?
"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32 in our German list, against #36,793 for "ark". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ark" 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 #1,605,779 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ark" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ark vs AUD". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,605,779 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