añosvsausWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“años” and “aus” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#56
“años” frequency rank
#33,949
“aus” frequency rank
34005
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature años aus
Definition Forma del plural de año Forma del plural de au.

Where the eye mixes años and aus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
años
3 ch
aus

Visual trap between años and aus

A purely visual mix-up. años ([ˈaɲos]) and aus ([aws]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34005, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

años is recorded at frequency rank #56, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈaɲos]. aus is at rank #33,949, tagged as anoun, pronounced [aws].

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 34005, this pair ranks #193,719 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of años vs aus

Shared letters: as. Private to "años": . Private to "aus": u.

"años" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "años" and "aus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈaɲos] versus [aws]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "años" or "aus"?
"años" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #56 in our Spanish list, against #33,949 for "aus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "años" and "aus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "años" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #193,719 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "años" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs aus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #193,719 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list