au

[ˈaw]

/[ˈaw]/ intj

The verdict

“au” is a regularly-used Spanish word, ranked #7,821 in Spanish word frequency and used as an interjection.

#7,821
frequency rank, Spanish
2
letters
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Indica dolor.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

au vs ay
50% similar
au vs av
50% similar
au vs az
50% similar

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

Key facts for au
PropertyValue
Headwordau
LanguageSpanish
Part of speechInterjection
IPA[ˈaw]
Letters2
Frequency rank#7,821
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “au” sits in Spanish frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). au lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The Spanish entry for au is 2 letters long, classified as an interjection, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as [ˈaw]. Corpus data places it at rank #7,821 in overall Spanish word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Indica dolor.".

au doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, a sign its spelling follows regular Spanish conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ay", "av", "az", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct Spanish form is au, spelled A-U.

Definition

  1. 1
    Indica dolor.

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 "au"?
"au" is spelled A-U. The IPA pronunciation is [ˈaw].
What does "au" mean?
As an interjection, "au" means: Indica dolor.
What words are commonly confused with "au"?
"au" is commonly confused with "ay", "av", "az". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "au"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "au" is [ˈaw]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "au" come from?
"au" 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.

Using “au”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct Spanish spelling is A-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as [ˈaw] (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “ay” - see the side-by-side comparison. au vs ay
  • Browse more Spanish words and confusable pairs in the same reference. Spanish words
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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list