Which to use
“aloud” is an adverb and “avoid” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,689
- “aloud” frequency rank
- #1,416
- “avoid” frequency rank
- 16105
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aloud | avoid |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | With a loud voice, or great noise; loudly; audibly. | To try not to meet or communicate with (a person); to shun. |
Where the eye mixes aloud and avoid
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses aloud with avoid
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aloud is /əˈlaʊd/ while avoid is /əˈvɔɪd/. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16105, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aloud is recorded at frequency rank #14,689, classified as anadv, pronounced /əˈlaʊd/. avoid is at rank #1,416, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈvɔɪd/.
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 16105, this pair ranks #459,879 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aloud vs avoid
Shared letters: ado. Private to "aloud": lu. Private to "avoid": iv.
"aloud" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "avoid" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aloud" for "avoid" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aloud" vs "avoid" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "aloud" and "avoid" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aloud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avoid" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #459,879 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aloud" and "avoid" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aloud vs Alun". 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 #459,879 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.