auravsauxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aura is a noun, aux is a contraction, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aura” is a noun and “aux” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,285
“aura” frequency rank
#32,511
“aux” frequency rank
47796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aura aux
Definition Viento suave y apacible. Contracción de la preposición à y el artículo les; a las ; a los.

Where the eye mixes aura and aux

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

4 ch
aura
3 ch
aux

Why the eye confuses aura with aux

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aura is [ˈawɾa] while aux is /o/. 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 (noun vs contraction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aura is recorded at frequency rank #15,285, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈawɾa]. aux is at rank #32,511, tagged as acontraction, pronounced /o/.

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 47796, this pair ranks #118,042 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aura vs aux

Shared letters: au. Private to "aura": r. Private to "aux": x.

"aura" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "aux" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auraarua · auar · aurra · uara

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aura" and "aux" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aura" is a noun and "aux" a contraction, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary Spanish text, does "aura" or "aux" show up more?
"aura" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,285 in our Spanish list, against #32,511 for "aux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "aura" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #118,042 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aura" and "aux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atl vs aux". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #118,042 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