abavsatWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aba” and “at” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,886
“aba” frequency rank
#4,122
“at” frequency rank
53008
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aba at
Definition Manteau de laine en usage en Turquie et dans l’ancienne Perse. Ancien nom de l’attier, qui a peut-être été importé à la Réunion par les Malbars et les Tamouls ; ce nom était particulièrement fréquent au Sénégal.

Where the eye mixes aba and at

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

3 ch
aba
2 ch
at

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. aba (\a.ba\) and at (\at\) 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 53008, 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\. at is at rank #4,122, tagged as anoun, pronounced \at\.

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 53008, this pair ranks #143,713 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aba vs at

Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "at": t.

"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "at" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aba" and "at" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ba\ versus \at\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aba" or "at"?
"at" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,122 in our French list, against #48,886 for "aba". 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