abavsausWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aba is a noun, aus is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aba” is a noun and “aus” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,886
“aba” frequency rank
#18,401
“aus” frequency rank
67287
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aba aus
Definition Manteau de laine en usage en Turquie et dans l’ancienne Perse. De (désigne la provenance).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aba and aus apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
aba
3 ch
aus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aba is \a.ba\ while aus is \aʊ̯s\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67287, 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\. aus is at rank #18,401, tagged as aprep, pronounced \aʊ̯s\.

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 67287, this pair ranks #64,063 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of aba vs aus

Shared letters: a. Private to "aba": b. Private to "aus": su.

"aba" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequency comparison

aba#48,886
aus#18,401

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aba" and "aus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aba" is a noun and "aus" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aba" or "aus"?
"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,401 in our French list, against #48,886 for "aba". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering aba vs aus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “aba”; for a preposition, it's “aus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aba” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list