ohnevsOSZEWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ohne is a preposition, OSZE is an abbrev, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#111
“ohne” frequency rank
#26,565
“OSZE” frequency rank
26676
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ohne OSZE
Definition etwas oder jemanden ausschließend Organisation für Sicherheit und Zusammenarbeit in Europa

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ohne and OSZE apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
ohne
4 ch
OSZE

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ohne is [ˈoːnə] while OSZE is [oːʔɛst͡sɛtˈʔeː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs abbrev), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26676, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ohne is recorded at frequency rank #111, classified as aprep, pronounced [ˈoːnə]. OSZE is at rank #26,565, tagged as anabbrev, pronounced [oːʔɛst͡sɛtˈʔeː].

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 26676, this pair ranks #1,814,270 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ohne vs OSZE

Shared letters: eo. Private to "ohne": hn. Private to "OSZE": sz.

"ohne" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "OSZE" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ohnehone · ohen · ohhne · ohnne · onhe
  • OSZEosez · ossze · oszze · ozse · soze

Frequency comparison

ohne#111
OSZE#26,565

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ohne" and "OSZE" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ohne" is a preposition and "OSZE" an abbrev, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ohne" or "OSZE"?
"ohne" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #111 in our German list, against #26,565 for "OSZE". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering ohne vs OSZE

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “ohne”; for an abbrev, it's “OSZE”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ohne” 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