are vs awe, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“are” is a verb and “awe” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#19
“are” frequency rank: #9,568
“awe” frequency rank: 9587
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	are	awe
Definition	second-person singular simple present of be	A feeling of fear and reverence.

Where the eye mixes are and awe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch

are

3 ch

awe

Visual trap between are and awe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: are is /ə(ɹ)/ while awe is /ɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “are” becomes w in “awe”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9587, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

are is recorded at frequency rank #19, classified as averb, pronounced /ə(ɹ)/. awe is at rank #9,568, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɔː/.

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 9587, this pair ranks #496,634 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of are vs awe

Shared letters: ae. Private to "are": r. Private to "awe": w.

"are" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "awe" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "are" and "awe" be used interchangeably?

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

Frequency check: "are" vs "awe" - which ranks higher?

"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19 in our English list, against #9,568 for "awe". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "are" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "awe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #496,634 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"are" and "awe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amb vs awe". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #496,634 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.