Which to use
“awaits” is a noun and “aways” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,860
- “awaits” frequency rank
- #46,322
- “aways” frequency rank
- 60182
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | awaits | aways |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of await | Alternative form of a ways. |
Letter map: awaits vs aways
Shared letters muted; letters that set awaits and aways apart highlighted. Shared run: 4. awaits runs 6 letters (VCVVCC) against aways's 5 (VCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Part-of-speech tell for awaits / aways
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: awaits is anoun and awaysanadverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
awaits is recorded at frequency rank #13,860, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈweɪts/. aways is at rank #46,322, tagged as anadv.
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 60182, this pair ranks #101,722 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of awaits vs aways
Shared letters: asw. Private to "awaits": it. Private to "aways": y.
"awaits" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC · "aways" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "awaits" and "aways" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "awaits" or "aways" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pair "awaits" vs "aways" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "awaits" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aways" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,722 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "awaits" and "aways" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Amaya vs aways". 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 #101,722 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.