ausvsaviTell them apart

Quick tell: aus is a preposition, avi is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“aus” is a preposition and “avi” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,401
“aus” frequency rank
#29,236
“avi” frequency rank
47637
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aus avi
Definition De (désigne la provenance). Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe avir.

Where the eye mixes aus and avi

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
aus
3 ch
avi

Look-alike desk: aus vs avi

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aus is \aʊ̯s\ while avi is \a.vi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47637, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aus is recorded at frequency rank #18,401, classified as aprep, pronounced \aʊ̯s\. avi is at rank #29,236, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.vi\.

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 47637, this pair ranks #185,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aus vs avi

Shared letters: a. Private to "aus": su. Private to "avi": iv.

"aus" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "avi" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aus" for "avi" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aus" is a preposition and "avi" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "aus" or "avi" show up more?
"aus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,401 in our French list, against #29,236 for "avi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "aus" and "avi" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avi" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aus" and "avi" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aves vs avi". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #185,382 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