ob vs ox, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“ob” is a conjunction and “ox” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#139
“ob” frequency rank: #44,121
“ox” frequency rank: 44260
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	ob	ox
Definition	leitet indirekte Fragesätze sowie Ungewissheit, Zweifel oder dergleichen ausdrückende Nebensätze ein (in Form von Subjekt-, Objekt- und Attributsätzen)	der Ochse

Where the eye mixes ob and ox

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

2 ch

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ob is [ɔp] while ox is [ɒks]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - b in “ob” becomes x in “ox”, and the parts of speech differ too (conjunction vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ob is recorded at frequency rank #139, classified as aconj, pronounced [ɔp]. ox is at rank #44,121, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ɒks].

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 44260, this pair ranks #1,391,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ob vs ox

Shared letters: o. Private to "ob": b. Private to "ox": x.

"ob" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ox" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ob" and "ox" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ob" is a conjunction and "ox" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "ob" or "ox"?

"ob" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #139 in our German list, against #44,121 for "ox". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "ob" and "ox". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "ob" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #1,391,878 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"ob" and "ox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs ox". Nearby pair

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.