Which to use
“aw” and “away” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,972
- “aw” frequency rank
- #20,367
- “away” frequency rank
- 47339
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aw | away |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Âgé, vieux, ancien. | Parti. |
Where the eye mixes aw and away
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: aw vs away
A purely visual mix-up. aw (\ɑβ\) and away (\ə.ˈweɪ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “aw” sits inside “away”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aw is recorded at frequency rank #26,972, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑβ\. away is at rank #20,367, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ə.ˈweɪ\.
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 47339, this pair ranks #187,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of aw vs away
Shared letters: aw. Private to "aw": -. Private to "away": y.
"aw" · 2 letters · shape VC · "away" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- away ← aawy · awayy · awway · awya · waay
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aw" for "away" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aw" vs "away" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "aw" and "away" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aw" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "away" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #187,748 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aw" and "away" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aur vs aw". 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 #187,748 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.