Which to use
“aba” and “abus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,886
- “aba” frequency rank
- #2,860
- “abus” frequency rank
- 51746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aba | abus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Manteau de laine en usage en Turquie et dans l’ancienne Perse. | Usage mauvais, excessif de quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes aba and abus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aba and abus
A purely visual mix-up. aba (\a.ba\) and abus (\a.by\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aba is recorded at frequency rank #48,886, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ba\. abus is at rank #2,860, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.by\.
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 51746, this pair ranks #152,775 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aba vs abus
Shared letters: ab. Private to "aba": -. Private to "abus": su.
"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "abus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- abus ← abbus · absu · abuss · aubs · baus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aba" for "abus" ever safe?
Which is more common, "aba" or "abus"?
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 "aba" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #152,775 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aba" and "abus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aba vs aur". 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 #152,775 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.