obenvsoneWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: oben is a adverb, one is a num, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“oben” is an adverb and “one” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#459
“oben” frequency rank
#1,899
“one” frequency rank
2358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oben one
Definition an hoch gelegener Stelle/Ort eins; einer; ein einziger

Where the eye mixes oben and one

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
oben
3 ch
one

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oben is [ˈoːbn̩] while one is [wʌn]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oben is recorded at frequency rank #459, classified as anadv, pronounced [ˈoːbn̩]. one is at rank #1,899, tagged as anum, pronounced [wʌn].

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 2358, this pair ranks #2,002,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of oben vs one

Shared letters: eno. Private to "oben": b. Private to "one": -.

"oben" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "one" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obenboen · obben · obenn · obne · oebn

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "oben" and "one" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oben" is an adverb and "one" a num, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "oben" or "one"?
"oben" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #459 in our German list, against #1,899 for "one". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "oben" and "one". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "oben" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "one" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #2,002,548 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oben" and "one" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs one". 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

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list