au vs aus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“au” is an intj and “aus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,821
“au” frequency rank: #33,949
“aus” frequency rank: 41770
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	au	aus
Definition	Indica dolor.	Forma del plural de au.

Where the eye mixes au and aus

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

2 ch

3 ch

aus

Why the eye confuses au with aus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: au is [ˈaw] while aus is [aws]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “au” sits inside “aus”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41770, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

au is recorded at frequency rank #7,821, classified as anintj, pronounced [ˈaw]. 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 41770, this pair ranks #151,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of au vs aus

Shared letters: au. Private to "au": -. Private to "aus": s.

"au" · 2 letters · shape VV · "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "au" for "aus" ever safe?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "au" is an intj and "aus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "au" or "aus"?

"au" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,821 in our Spanish list, against #33,949 for "aus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

Full dictionary entry for "au" 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 #151,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"au" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs aus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #151,893 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.