agovsargotTell them apart

Quick tell: ago is a postp, argot is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ago” is a postp and “argot” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,663
“ago” frequency rank
#22,769
“argot” frequency rank
55432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ago argot
Definition Il y a (dans le passé). Langage de convention utilisé à l’origine par les voleurs, les malfaiteurs.

Where the eye mixes ago and argot

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

3 ch
ago
5 ch
argot

Look-alike desk: ago vs argot

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ago is \ə.ˈɡoʊ\ while argot is \aʁ.ɡo\. 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 (postp vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ago is recorded at frequency rank #32,663, classified as apostp, pronounced \ə.ˈɡoʊ\. argot is at rank #22,769, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ.ɡo\.

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 55432, this pair ranks #127,485 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ago vs argot

Shared letters: ago. Private to "ago": -. Private to "argot": rt.

"ago" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "argot" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • argotagrot · arggot · argott · argto · arogt · arrgot · ragot

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ago" and "argot" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ago" is a postp and "argot" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ago" vs "argot" - which ranks higher?
"argot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,769 in our French list, against #32,663 for "ago". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ago" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "argot" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #127,485 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ago" and "argot" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ago 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 #127,485 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