OchsevsohneWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#38,320
“Ochse” frequency rank
#111
“ohne” frequency rank
38431
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ochse ohne
Definition kastriertes männliches Hausrind etwas oder jemanden ausschließend

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set Ochse and ohne apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
Ochse
4 ch
ohne

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Ochse is [ˈɔksə] while ohne is [ˈoːnə]. 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 (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38431, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ochse is recorded at frequency rank #38,320, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈɔksə]. ohne is at rank #111, tagged as aprep, pronounced [ˈoːnə].

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 38431, this pair ranks #1,564,182 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ochse vs ohne

Shared letters: eho. Private to "Ochse": cs. Private to "ohne": n.

"Ochse" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "ohne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Ochsecohse · occhse · oches · ochhse · ochsse · ocshe · ohcse
  • ohnehone · ohen · ohhne · ohnne · onhe

Frequency comparison

Ochse#38,320
ohne#111

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ochse" and "ohne" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "Ochse" is a noun and "ohne" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "Ochse" or "ohne"?
"ohne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #111 in our German list, against #38,320 for "Ochse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering Ochse vs ohne

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “Ochse”; for a preposition, it's “ohne”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “Ochse” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list