aguavsautWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: agua is a noun, aut is a conjunction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“agua” is a noun and “aut” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#253
“agua” frequency rank
#40,662
“aut” frequency rank
40915
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature agua aut
Definition Sustancia transparente, inodora e insípida, que se encuentra en estado líquido a temperatura y presión estándar, y cuya composición molecular es de dos átomos de hidrógeno por uno de oxígeno. O

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set agua and aut apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
agua
3 ch
aut

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: agua is [ˈaɣ̞wa] while aut is /ˈawt/. 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 conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40915, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

agua is recorded at frequency rank #253, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɣ̞wa]. aut is at rank #40,662, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ˈawt/.

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 40915, this pair ranks #156,517 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of agua vs aut

Shared letters: au. Private to "agua": g. Private to "aut": t.

"agua" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "aut" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aguaagau · aggua · auga · gaua

Frequency comparison

agua#253
aut#40,662

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "agua" and "aut" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "agua" is a noun and "aut" a conjunction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "agua" or "aut"?
"agua" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #253 in our Spanish list, against #40,662 for "aut". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering agua vs aut

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “agua”; for a conjunction, it's “aut”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “agua” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list