Aw or awe?
aw is an interjection meaning “Used to express disappointment or dismay”; awe is a noun meaning “A feeling of fear and reverence”. Use aw as an interjection and awe as a noun (aw is also a noun: “An instance of aw”). They sound the same (/ɔː/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) aw is about 2.1 times as common as awe.
What is the difference between aw and awe?
| aw | awe | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | interjection, noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Used to express disappointment or dismay Used to express mild protest, entreaty, consternation, or disapproval An instance of aw | A feeling of fear and reverence A feeling of amazement To inspire fear and reverence in |
| Example | Aw, that's too bad.. | none recorded |
| Forms | aww, awh | awes |
| Pronunciation | /ɔː/ [ɔ̃ː ~ ɒ̃ː] /ɑ/ | /ɔː/ [ɔ̝ː] ~ [o̞ː] /oː/ |
| In writing | 13 times per million words | 6.3 times per million words |
Sources: aw and awe 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 aw and awe
aw
- 1
Used to express disappointment or dismay
Aw, that's too bad..
- 2
An instance of aw
- 3
Initialism of autumn/winter; often followed by a year
AW23 collection
- 4
Used to express mild protest, entreaty, consternation, or disapproval
Aw, dad, why can't we go to Legoland?
- 5
Used to express affection
Aw, you've got such a cute baby bird!
- 6
Used to anticipate reporting to a person in authority that the listener has done something wrong
Aww, you said a bad word!
awe
- 1
A feeling of fear and reverence
- 2
To inspire fear and reverence in
- 3
A feeling of amazement
- 4
To control by inspiring dread
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, aw or awe?
aw appears 13 times per million words; awe 6.3 times per million words.
aw 13 times per million wordsawe 6.3 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 aw vs awe?
“aw vs awe” is searched about 1,000 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“awe vs aw”, “aw or awe”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.