A

[aː]

/[aː]/ character

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“A” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #152) as a character. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#152
frequency rank, German
113,935
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - erster Buchstabe des deutschen Alphabets; einer der Selbstlaute (Vokale)

Corpus desk

Index DE-a · A · German

A · rank #152 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #152
  • LEN-SHORT 1 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 113,935
  • PHOTO-FINISH dabei

Nearest frequency peer: dabei (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “A”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “A” sits against the nearest ranked German headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of May 6, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

A vs an
0% similar
A vs am
0% similar
A vs ab
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for A
PropertyValue
HeadwordA
LanguageGerman
Part of speechCharacter
IPA[aː]
Letters1
Frequency rank#152
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “A” sits in German frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). A lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for A is neighbouring look-alikes ("an", "am", …), not just typos; it is acharacter pronounced [aː]. Frequency #152 among 113,935 “A” headwords. 3 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for A, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "an", "am", "ab", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct German form is A, spelled A.

Definition

  1. 1
    erster Buchstabe des deutschen Alphabets; einer der Selbstlaute (Vokale)
  2. 2
    Bezeichnung für Ton "A", und Abkürzung für A-Dur (Tonart und Akkord)
  3. 3
    römisches Zahlzeichen für 500

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how A appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Das A ist der erste Buchstabe in dem Namen Anton.
  2. Das A hat in deutschen Schriften eine durchschnittliche Häufigkeit von etwa 6,51 %. Damit ist es der sechsthäufigste Buchstabe in deutschen Schriften und steht im Deutschen als einziger Buchstabe verdoppelt am Anfang eines Wortes, wie etwa beim „Aal“.

Synonyms

agroßesA-Dur

Antonyms

ZOmegaO

This word in other languages

A(English)la(Español)la(Français)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "A"?
"A" is spelled A. The IPA pronunciation is [aː].
What does "A" mean?
As a character, "A" means: erster Buchstabe des deutschen Alphabets; einer der Selbstlaute (Vokale)
What words are commonly confused with "A"?
"A" is commonly confused with "an", "am", "ab". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "A"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "A" is [aː]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "A" come from?
"A" is a German word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list