Aught or ought?
aught is a noun meaning “Zero”; ought is a verb meaning “Indicating duty or obligation”. Use aught as a noun and ought as a verb (ought is also a noun: “A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with…”). They sound the same (/ɔːt/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) ought is about 83 times as common as aught.
What is the difference between aught and ought?
| aught | ought | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | pronoun, adverb, noun | verb, pronoun, adverb, noun |
| Meaning | proscribedZero The digit zero Estimation | Indicating duty or obligation Indicating advisability or prudence A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case |
| Example | for aught I know/care | I ought to vote in the coming election |
| Forms | aughts | none |
| Pronunciation | /ɔːt/ /oːt/ /ɔt/ | /ɔːt/ /oːt/ /ʊt/ |
| In writing | about once in every 4 million words | 22 times per million words |
Sources: aught and ought in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of aught and ought
aught
- 1
proscribedZero
- 2
Estimation
in my aught
- 3
The digit zero
- 4
Of importance or consequence (in the phrase "of aught")
an event of aught
ought
- 1
Indicating duty or obligation
I ought to vote in the coming election
- 2
Alternative spelling of aught; anything
- 3
Alternative spelling of aught; at all, to any degree
- 4
A statement of what ought to be the case as contrasted with what is the case
- 5
Alternative spelling of aught; cipher, zero, nought
- 6
Indicating advisability or prudence
You ought to always stand back from the edge of the platform
- 7
Indicating desirability
He ought to read the book; it was very good
- 8
Indicating likelihood or probability
We ought to arrive by noon if we take the motorway, shouldn't we?
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, aught or ought?
aught appears about once in every 4 million words; ought 22 times per million words.
aught about once in every 4 million wordsought 22 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search aught vs ought?
“aught vs ought” is searched about 590 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“ought vs aught”, “aught or ought”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.