auf vs aus, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#35,364
“auf” frequency rank: #33,949
“aus” frequency rank: 69313
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	auf	aus
Definition	Arriba de, sobre, en.	Forma del plural de au.

Where the eye mixes auf and aus

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

3 ch

auf

3 ch

aus

Look-alike desk: auf vs aus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: auf is [aʊ̯f] while aus is [aws]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - f in “auf” becomes s in “aus”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69313, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auf is recorded at frequency rank #35,364, classified as aprep, pronounced [aʊ̯f]. 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 69313, this pair ranks #32,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of auf vs aus

Shared letters: au. Private to "auf": f. Private to "aus": s.

"auf" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "auf" and "aus" mean the same thing in a sentence?

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

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

"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,949 in our Spanish list, against #35,364 for "auf". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

Full dictionary entry for "auf" 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 #32,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"auf" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apis vs aus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #32,294 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.