ochsvsOchseTell them apart

Quick tell: ochs is a verb, Ochse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ochs” is a verb and “Ochse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,939
“ochs” frequency rank
#38,320
“Ochse” frequency rank
74259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ochs Ochse
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs ochsen kastriertes männliches Hausrind

Where the eye mixes ochs and Ochse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ochs runs 4 letters (VCCC) against Ochse's 5 (VCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
ochs
5 ch
Ochse

Look-alike desk: ochs vs Ochse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ochs is [ɔks] while Ochse is [ˈɔksə]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ochs” sits inside “Ochse”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ochs is recorded at frequency rank #35,939, classified as averb, pronounced [ɔks]. Ochse is at rank #38,320, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔksə].

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 74259, this pair ranks #338,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ochs vs Ochse

Shared letters: chos. Private to "ochs": -. Private to "Ochse": e.

"ochs" · 4 letters · shape VCCC  ·  "Ochse" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ochs ← cohs · occhs · ochhs · ochss · ocsh · ohcs
  • Ochse ← cohse · occhse · oches · ochhse · ochsse · ocshe · ohcse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ochs" and "Ochse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ochs" is a verb and "Ochse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "ochs" or "Ochse" show up more?
"ochs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,939 in our German list, against #38,320 for "Ochse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ochs" and "Ochse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ochs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Ochse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #338,177 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ochs" and "Ochse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ochs vs OGH". 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 #338,177 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list