anusvsartusConfusable pair

Quick tell: anus is a noun, artus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“anus” is a noun and “artus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#12,304
“anus” frequency rank
#40,127
“artus” frequency rank
52431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anus artus
Definition Orifice du rectum par lequel se termine l’intestin. Étroit, serré.

Letter map: anus vs artus

Shared letters muted; letters that set anus and artus apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
anus
5 ch
artus

Grammar separator: anus vs artus

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: anus is anoun and artusanadjective. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anus is recorded at frequency rank #12,304, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.nys\. artus is at rank #40,127, tagged as anadj.

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 52431, this pair ranks #147,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anus vs artus

Shared letters: asu. Private to "anus": n. Private to "artus": rt.

"anus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "artus" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • anusannus · ansu · anuss · auns · naus
  • artusarrtus · artsu · arttus · artuss · aruts · atrus · ratus

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "anus" and "artus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "anus" is a noun and "artus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "anus" or "artus" show up more?
"anus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,304 in our French list, against #40,127 for "artus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "anus" and "artus". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "anus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "artus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #147,765 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "anus" and "artus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arti vs artus". 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 #147,765 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