Which to use
“award” is a noun and “away” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,385
- “award” frequency rank
- #214
- “away” frequency rank
- 1599
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | award | away |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A judgment, sentence, or final decision. Specifically: The decision of arbitrators in a case submitted. | From a place, hence. |
Where the eye mixes award and away
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: award is /əˈwɔːd/ while away is /əˈweɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1599, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
award is recorded at frequency rank #1,385, classified as anoun, pronounced /əˈwɔːd/. away is at rank #214, tagged as anadv, pronounced /əˈweɪ/.
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 1599, this pair ranks #527,087 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of award vs away
Shared letters: aw. Private to "award": dr. Private to "away": y.
"award" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "away" · 4 letters · shape VCVV