a's vs AA, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“a's” and “AA” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,090
“a's” frequency rank: #6,979
“AA” frequency rank: 22069
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	a's	AA
Definition	plural of the letter a	A member of Alcoholics Anonymous.

Letter map: a's vs AA

Shared letters muted; letters that set a's and AA apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch

a's

2 ch

Corpus notes: a's and AA

a's and AA are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22069, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

a's is recorded at frequency rank #15,090, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈeɪz/. AA is at rank #6,979, tagged as anoun.

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 22069, this pair ranks #419,342 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of a's vs AA

Shared letters: a. Private to "a's": s. Private to "AA": -.

"a's" · 2 letters · shape VC · "AA" · 2 letters · shape VV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "a's" for "AA" ever safe?

No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.

In ordinary English text, does "a's" or "AA" show up more?

"AA" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,979 in our English list, against #15,090 for "a's". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "a's" and "AA".

Full dictionary entry for "a's" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "AA" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #419,342 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"a's" and "AA" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "a's vs amb". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #419,342 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.