aúnvsaveWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aún is a adverb, ave is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aún” is an adverb and “ave” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#240
“aún” frequency rank
#5,694
“ave” frequency rank
5934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aún ave
Definition Indica que el hecho persiste en el presente, aunque pueda cambiar en lo sucesivo.. Animal vertebrado, ovíparo, de respiración pulmonar y sangre de temperatura constante, pico córneo, cuerpo cubierto de plumas, con dos patas y dos alas aptas por lo común para el vuelo. En el estado embrionario tiene amnios y alantoides

Where the eye mixes aún and ave

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

3 ch
aún
3 ch
ave

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aún is [aˈũn] while ave is [ˈaβ̞e]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aún is recorded at frequency rank #240, classified as anadv, pronounced [aˈũn]. ave is at rank #5,694, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈaβ̞e].

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 5934, this pair ranks #312,244 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aún vs ave

Shared letters: a. Private to "aún": . Private to "ave": ev.

"aún" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "ave" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aún" and "ave" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aún" is an adverb and "ave" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aún" or "ave"?
"aún" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #240 in our Spanish list, against #5,694 for "ave". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list