ah

[ˈa]

/[ˈa]/ intj

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“ah” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #699) as an interjection. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#699
frequency rank, Spanish
7,704
“A” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Denota tristeza o decepción.

Corpus desk

Index ES-ah · ah · Spanish

ah · rank #699 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #699
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-DENSE 7,704
  • PHOTO-FINISH río

Nearest frequency peer: río (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “ah”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “ah” sits against the nearest ranked Spanish headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

ah vs al
50% similar
ah vs ay
50% similar
ah vs as
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for ah
PropertyValue
Headwordah
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechInterjection
IPA[ˈa]
Letters2
Frequency rank#699
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Dónde se sitúa “ah” en la frecuencia del español

De izquierda a derecha: las pocas palabras que cargan el habla diaria, luego la cola larga casi invisible.ahcae aquí:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

El eje es logarítmico: cada tick marca unas diez veces menos frecuencia. En la misma franja de rareza aparecen “río” (#698), “aquellos” (#700), “red” (#697). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for ah is neighbouring look-alikes ("al", "ay", …), not just typos; it is aninterjection pronounced [ˈa]. Frequency #699 among 7,704 “A” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

ah has no tracked misspelling variants, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "al", "ay", "as", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct Spanish form is ah, spelled A-H.

Definition

  1. 1
    Denota tristeza o decepción.
  2. 2
    Indica admiración, sorpresa, o emociones similares.
  3. 3
    Indica que se ha comprendido algo.
  4. 4
    Se emplea para interrogar, cuando no se ha entendido algo.
  5. 5
    Indica disgusto por una acción cometida por otra persona

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how ah appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. ¡¿Qué te pasa, ah?! ¿Qué piensas, ah?

Synonyms

ehcómoqué

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 Spanish corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "ah"?
"ah" is spelled A-H. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈa].
What does "ah" mean?
As an interjection, "ah" means: Denota tristeza o decepción.
What words are commonly confused with "ah"?
"ah" is commonly confused with "al", "ay", "as". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "ah"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "ah" is [ˈa]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "ah" come from?
"ah" is a Spanish word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

What to do next

You've looked up "ah". Here's where to go from here.

  • "ah" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "al". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #699 among Spanish headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more Spanish words in the "A" letter cohort. A–Z browse

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list