Which to use
“abort” is a noun and “about” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,277
- “abort” frequency rank
- #43
- “about” frequency rank
- 20320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abort | about |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An early termination of a mission, action, or procedure in relation to missiles or spacecraft; the craft making such a mission. | In a circle around; all round; on every side of; on the outside of; around. |
Where the eye mixes abort and about
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: abort vs about
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abort is /əˈbɔːt/ while about is /əˈbaʊt/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “abort” becomes u in “about”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abort is recorded at frequency rank #20,277, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈbɔːt/. about is at rank #43, tagged as aprep, pronounced /əˈbaʊt/.
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 20320, this pair ranks #431,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of abort vs about
Shared letters: abot. Private to "abort": r. Private to "about": u.
"abort" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "about" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abort" and "about" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "abort" or "about"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "abort" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "about" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,903 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abort" and "about" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abort vs Arora". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #431,903 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.