arevsaruWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,166
“are” frequency rank
#48,924
“aru” frequency rank
55090
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature are aru
Definition Unité de mesure de surface de terrains, égale à 100 mètres carrés. Vagin.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set are and aru apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
are
3 ch
aru

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. are (\aʁ\) and aru (\aru\) 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 a single letter - e in “are” becomes u in “aru”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55090, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

are is recorded at frequency rank #6,166, classified as anoun, pronounced \aʁ\. aru is at rank #48,924, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aru\.

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 55090, this pair ranks #129,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of are vs aru

Shared letters: ar. Private to "are": e. Private to "aru": u.

"are" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "aru" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequency comparison

are#6,166
aru#48,924

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "are" and "aru" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\aʁ\ versus \aru\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "are" or "aru"?
"are" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,166 in our French list, against #48,924 for "aru". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering are vs aru

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “are” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list