afvsaurConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#14,405
“af” frequency rank
#49,504
“aur” frequency rank
63909
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature af aur
Definition De. Note d’usage : la préposition est suivie du datif. Or. Élément chimique de numéro atomique 79 et de symbole Au qui fait partie des métaux de transition.

Where the eye mixes af and aur

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

2 ch
af
3 ch
aur

Visual trap between af and aur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: af is \aːv\ while aur is \ˈawɾ\. 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 (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63909, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

af is recorded at frequency rank #14,405, classified as aprep, pronounced \aːv\. aur is at rank #49,504, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈawɾ\.

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 63909, this pair ranks #79,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of af vs aur

Shared letters: a. Private to "af": f. Private to "aur": ru.

"af" · 2 letters · shape VC  ·  "aur" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "af" and "aur" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "af" is a preposition and "aur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "af" or "aur" show up more?
"af" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,405 in our French list, against #49,504 for "aur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "af" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,593 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "af" and "aur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ahn vs aur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #79,593 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