Which to use
“ob” is a conjunction and “oc” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #139
- “ob” frequency rank
- #26,989
- “oc” frequency rank
- 27128
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ob | oc |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | leitet indirekte Fragesätze sowie Ungewissheit, Zweifel oder dergleichen ausdrückende Nebensätze ein (in Form von Subjekt-, Objekt- und Attributsätzen) | der Gänserich, der Ganter; ein männlicher großer Vogel |
Where the eye mixes ob and oc
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ob is [ɔp] while oc is [ɔk]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “ob” becomes c in “oc”, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ob is recorded at frequency rank #139, classified as aconj, pronounced [ɔp]. oc is at rank #26,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɔk].
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 27128, this pair ranks #1,806,900 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ob vs oc
Shared letters: o. Private to "ob": b. Private to "oc": c.
"ob" · 2 letters · shape VC · "oc" · 2 letters · shape VC