aur vs aux, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“aur” is a noun and “aux” is an article - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,504
“aur” frequency rank: #58
“aux” frequency rank: 49562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	aur	aux
Definition	Or. Élément chimique de numéro atomique 79 et de symbole Au qui fait partie des métaux de transition.	Contraction obligatoire de la préposition à et de l'article défini les.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

aur

3 ch

aux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aur is \ˈawɾ\ while aux is \o\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “aur” becomes x in “aux”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs article), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aur is recorded at frequency rank #49,504, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈawɾ\. aux is at rank #58, 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 49562, this pair ranks #169,618 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aur vs aux

Shared letters: au. Private to "aur": r. Private to "aux": x.

"aur" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "aux" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequency comparison

aur#49,504

aux#58

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aur" and "aux" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aur" is a noun and "aux" an article, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "aur" or "aux"?

"aux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #58 in our French list, against #49,504 for "aur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering aur vs aux

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “aur”; for an article, it's “aux”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aur” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable