Austria vs Australia

Why people mix them up

This is purely a spelling problem. "Austria" and "Australia" differ by only two letters, they sit next to each other in any alphabetical list of countries, and both are German-sounding to some ears and English-sounding to others. Geographically they could not be further apart: Austria is a small Alpine country in the middle of Europe, while Australia is an entire continent in the southern hemisphere. The mix-up is so common that Austrian souvenir shops sell "No kangaroos in Austria" T-shirts.

How to tell them apart

• Austria is landlocked in Central Europe, bordered by Germany, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Italy, Switzerland and Liechtenstein; Australia is an island continent with no land borders.
• Australia is about 90 times bigger: roughly 7.7 million km² against Austria's 84,000 km².
• Austria's flag is a simple red-white-red horizontal tricolour; Australia's is a blue ensign with the Union Jack and the Southern Cross.
• Austria speaks German and uses the euro; Australia speaks English and uses the Australian dollar.
• The capitals are Vienna (Austria) and Canberra (Australia).
• Austria is in the Alps; Australia is mostly flat and dry, with the Outback in the middle.

Memory hook

Austr-AL-ia has the extra "AL" and the extra size: it is the one that is ALL by itself in the ocean. Austria is the short name for the small country.

On the map

For Austria, find Germany and tap the country directly south-east of it, sitting above Italy and Slovenia and west of Hungary; it is a horizontal strip in the Alps. For Australia, scroll to the bottom right of the world map, south of Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and tap the huge single landmass sitting on its own in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. New Zealand is the pair of islands to its south-east.