anvsaurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“an” and “aur” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#363
“an” frequency rank
#49,504
“aur” frequency rank
49867
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature an aur
Definition Temps que met la Terre à accomplir une révolution autour du Soleil et qui se divise en douze mois. Année (voir Notes plus bas). Or. Élément chimique de numéro atomique 79 et de symbole Au qui fait partie des métaux de transition.

Where the eye mixes an and aur

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

2 ch
an
3 ch
aur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. an (\ɑ̃\) and aur (\ˈawɾ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49867, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

an is recorded at frequency rank #363, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃\. 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 49867, this pair ranks #167,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of an vs aur

Shared letters: a. Private to "an": n. Private to "aur": ru.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "an" and "aur" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃\ versus \ˈawɾ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "an" or "aur"?
"an" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #363 in our French list, against #49,504 for "aur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "an" and "aur". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "an" 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 #167,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "an" and "aur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ahn vs aur". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list