abound vs around, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“abound” is a verb and “around” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,278
“abound” frequency rank: #165
“around” frequency rank: 20443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	abound	around
Definition	To be full to overflowing; to bristle.	Forming a circle or closed curve containing (something).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set abound and around apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

abound

6 ch

around

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: abound is /əˈbaʊnd/ while around is /əˈɹaʊnd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “abound” becomes r in “around”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abound is recorded at frequency rank #20,278, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈbaʊnd/. around is at rank #165, tagged as aprep, pronounced /əˈɹaʊnd/.

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 20443, this pair ranks #431,055 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of abound vs around

Shared letters: adnou. Private to "abound": b. Private to "around": r.

"abound" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC · "around" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

abound ← abbound · abonud · aboudn · aboundd · abounnd · abuond · aobund · baound
around ← aorund · aronud · aroudn · aroundd · arounnd · arround · aruond · raound

Frequency comparison

abound#20,278

around#165

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "abound" and "around" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "abound" is a verb and "around" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "abound" or "around"?

"around" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #165 in our English list, against #20,278 for "abound". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering abound vs around

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “abound”; for a preposition, it's “around”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “abound” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable