ödevsossWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: öde is a adjective, oss is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“öde” is an adjective and “oss” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,776
“öde” frequency rank
#41,375
“oss” frequency rank
60151
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature öde oss
Definition nur wenig oder gar nicht bewohnt, besiedelt der Knochen

Letter map: öde vs oss

Shared letters muted; letters that set öde and oss apart highlighted. No shared letter run.

3 ch
öde
3 ch
oss

Grammar separator: öde vs oss

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: öde is anadjective and ossanoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60151, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

öde is recorded at frequency rank #18,776, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈøːdə]. oss is at rank #41,375, tagged as anoun, pronounced […].

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 60151, this pair ranks #797,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of öde vs oss

Shared letters: none. Private to "öde": deö. Private to "oss": os.

"öde" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "oss" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "öde" for "oss" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "öde" is an adjective and "oss" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "öde" or "oss"?
"öde" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,776 in our German list, against #41,375 for "oss". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "öde" and "oss".

  • Full dictionary entry for "öde" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "oss" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #797,602 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "öde" and "oss" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oss vs puzzles". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #797,602 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