Which to use
“actu” is a noun and “ath” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,896
- “actu” frequency rank
- #31,830
- “ath” frequency rank
- 44726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | actu | ath |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Actualité. | Contraction de la préposition a et de l'article défini eth. |
Where the eye mixes actu and ath
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses actu with ath
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: actu is \ak.ty\ while ath is \at\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
actu is recorded at frequency rank #12,896, classified as anoun, pronounced \ak.ty\. ath is at rank #31,830, tagged as anarticle, 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 44726, this pair ranks #208,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of actu vs ath
Shared letters: at. Private to "actu": cu. Private to "ath": h.
"actu" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ath" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- actu ← acctu · acttu · acut · atcu · catu
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "actu" for "ath" ever safe?
Frequency check: "actu" vs "ath" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "actu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ath" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #208,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "actu" and "ath" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ath 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 #208,276 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.