aoutvsaufWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: aout is a noun, auf is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aout” is a noun and “auf” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,822
“aout” frequency rank
#25,894
“auf” frequency rank
36716
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aout auf
Definition Huitième mois de l’année du calendrier grégorien, constitué de 31 jours. Sur, avec notion d'immobilité.

Where the eye mixes aout and auf

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
aout
3 ch
auf

Why the eye confuses aout with auf

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aout is \u(t)\ while auf is \aʊ̯f\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36716, 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)\. auf is at rank #25,894, tagged as aprep, pronounced \aʊ̯f\.

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 36716, this pair ranks #267,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aout vs auf

Shared letters: au. Private to "aout": ot. Private to "auf": f.

"aout" · 4 letters · shape VVVC  ·  "auf" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aoutaotu · aoutt · oaut

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aout" and "auf" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aout" is a noun and "auf" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "aout" or "auf"?
"aout" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,822 in our French list, against #25,894 for "auf". 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 "aout" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "auf" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #267,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aout" and "auf" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "auf 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 #267,623 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