actusvsausWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#29,622
“actus” frequency rank
#18,401
“aus” frequency rank
48023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature actus aus
Definition Pluriel de actu. De (désigne la provenance).

Where the eye mixes actus and aus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
actus
3 ch
aus

Why the eye confuses actus with aus

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: actus is \ak.ty\ while aus is \aʊ̯s\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

actus is recorded at frequency rank #29,622, classified as anoun, pronounced \ak.ty\. 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 48023, this pair ranks #182,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of actus vs aus

Shared letters: asu. Private to "actus": ct. Private to "aus": -.

"actus" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • actusactsu · acttus · actuss · acuts · atcus · catus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "actus" and "aus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "actus" is a noun and "aus" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "actus" or "aus"?
"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,401 in our French list, against #29,622 for "actus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "actus" and "aus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "actus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #182,264 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "actus" and "aus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "actus vs Artis". 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 #182,264 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