Which to use
“aout” is a noun and “au” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,822
- “aout” frequency rank
- #24
- “au” frequency rank
- 10846
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aout | au |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Huitième mois de l’année du calendrier grégorien, constitué de 31 jours. | Contraction de la préposition à et de l'article défini le. |
Where the eye mixes aout and au
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aout and au
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aout is \u(t)\ 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 10846, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aout is recorded at frequency rank #10,822, classified as anoun, pronounced \u(t)\. 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 10846, this pair ranks #411,451 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aout vs au
Shared letters: au. Private to "aout": ot. Private to "au": -.
"aout" · 4 letters · shape VVVC · "au" · 2 letters · shape VV
Known mistypes of this pair
- aout ← aotu · aoutt · oaut
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "aout" and "au" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "aout" vs "au" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "aout" and "au" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aout" 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 #411,451 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aout" and "au" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aout 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 #411,451 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.