Français homophones

au/aux/eau/eaux/oh

"au" is an article; "eau" is a noun - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #101 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "au" arrives as an article, while "eau" is a noun. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "au" then splits - "au" (2 letters) vs "aux" (3).
No shared spelling stem: "au" is 2 letters, "eau" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "au" is 2 letters, "eaux" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "au" is 2 letters, "oh" is 2; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aux" is 3 letters, "eau" is 3; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aux" is 3 letters, "eaux" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aux" is 3 letters, "oh" is 2; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "eau" then splits - "eau" (3 letters) vs "eaux" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "eau" is 3 letters, "oh" is 2; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "eaux" is 4 letters, "oh" is 2; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across au, aux, eau, eaux, oh: none. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

au
2 letters · 2 vowels · shape VV
Inventory au · private au
aux
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape VVC
Inventory aux · private aux
eau
3 letters · 3 vowels · shape VVV
Inventory aeu · private aeu
eaux
4 letters · 3 vowels · shape VVVC
Inventory aeux · private aeux
oh
2 letters · 1 vowels · shape VC
Inventory ho · private ho

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "au" when you mean: Contraction de la préposition à et de l'article défini le.
Write "aux" when you mean: Contraction obligatoire de la préposition à et de l'article défini les.
Write "eau" when you mean: Liquide transparent, incolore, inodore et insipide à l’état pur, qui est le principal constituant des lacs, rivières, mers et océans.
Write "eaux" when you mean: Pluriel de eau.
Write "oh" when you mean: Marque l’étonnement ou la surprise.

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

eaux ← aeux · eauxx · eaxu · euax

Each spelling

article · /\o\/ · #24 frequency

Contraction de la préposition à et de l'article défini le.

aux

article · /\o\/ · #58 frequency

Contraction obligatoire de la préposition à et de l'article défini les.

eau

noun · /\o\/ · #287 frequency

Liquide transparent, incolore, inodore et insipide à l’état pur, qui est le principal constituant des lacs, rivières, mers et océans.

eaux

noun · /\o\/ · #1,863 frequency

Pluriel de eau.

intj · /\o\/ · #673 frequency

Marque l’étonnement ou la surprise.