Which to use
“anus” is a noun and “au” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,304
- “anus” frequency rank
- #24
- “au” frequency rank
- 12328
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | anus | au |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Orifice du rectum par lequel se termine l’intestin. | Contraction de la préposition à et de l'article défini le. |
Where the eye mixes anus and au
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses anus with au
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: anus is \a.nys\ while au is \o\. 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 article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12328, 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\. au is at rank #24, tagged as anarticle, pronounced \o\.
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 12328, this pair ranks #405,721 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of anus vs au
Shared letters: au. Private to "anus": ns. Private to "au": -.
"anus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "au" · 2 letters · shape VV
Known mistypes of this pair
- anus ← annus · ansu · anuss · auns · naus
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "anus" and "au" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "anus" or "au" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "anus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "au" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,721 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "anus" and "au" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "anus vs aves". 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 #405,721 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.