ao vs are, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ao” is a contraction and “are” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#21,556
“ao” frequency rank: #6,261
“are” frequency rank: 27817
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ao	are
Definition	Contracción de la preposición a ("a") y el artículo o ("el"): (al).	Primera persona del singular (yo) del presente de subjuntivo de arar.

Where the eye mixes ao and are

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch

3 ch

are

Look-alike desk: ao vs are

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ao is [ɔ] while are is [ˈaɾe]. 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 (contraction vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27817, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ao is recorded at frequency rank #21,556, classified as acontraction, pronounced [ɔ]. are is at rank #6,261, tagged as averb, pronounced [ˈaɾe].

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 27817, this pair ranks #225,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ao vs are

Shared letters: a. Private to "ao": o. Private to "are": er.

"ao" · 2 letters · shape VV · "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ao" for "are" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ao" is a contraction and "are" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

In ordinary Spanish text, does "ao" or "are" show up more?

"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,261 in our Spanish list, against #21,556 for "ao". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "ao" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #225,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ao" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "alió vs ao". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #225,016 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.