Which to use
“auto” and “autos” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,803
- “auto” frequency rank
- #18,656
- “autos” frequency rank
- 20459
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | auto | autos |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Automobile. | Pluriel de auto. |
Where the eye mixes auto and autos
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses auto with autos
A purely visual mix-up. auto (\o.to\) and autos (\ɔ.to\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “auto” sits inside “autos”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20459, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
auto is recorded at frequency rank #1,803, classified as anoun, pronounced \o.to\. autos is at rank #18,656, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.to\.
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 20459, this pair ranks #368,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of auto vs autos
Shared letters: aotu. Private to "auto": -. Private to "autos": s.
"auto" · 4 letters · shape VVCV · "autos" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "auto" and "autos" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "auto" vs "autos" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "auto" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "autos" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #368,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "auto" and "autos" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "astor vs autos". 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 #368,161 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.