A4vsafWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: A4 is a symbol, af is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“A4” is a symbol and “af” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,920
“A4” frequency rank
#14,405
“af” frequency rank
33325
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature A4 af
Definition Format de papier de 210 mm × 297 mm. De. Note d’usage : la préposition est suivie du datif.

Letter map: A4 vs af

Shared letters muted; letters that set A4 and af apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

2 ch
A4
2 ch
af

Grammar separator: A4 vs af

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: A4 is asymbol and afapreposition. On the page they differ by a single letter - 4 in “A4” becomes f in “af”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33325, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

A4 is recorded at frequency rank #18,920, classified as asymbol. af is at rank #14,405, tagged as aprep, pronounced \aːv\.

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 33325, this pair ranks #291,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of A4 vs af

Shared letters: a. Private to "A4": -. Private to "af": f.

"A4" · 1 letters · shape V  ·  "af" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "A4" for "af" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "A4" is a symbol and "af" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "A4" or "af" show up more?
"af" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,405 in our French list, against #18,920 for "A4". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "A4" and "af".

  • Full dictionary entry for "A4" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "af" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "A4" and "af" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "A4 vs aur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #291,406 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list