ohovsonsTell them apart

Quick tell: oho is a intj, ons is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“oho” is an intj and “ons” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,942
“oho” frequency rank
#30,227
“ons” frequency rank
66169
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oho ons
Definition Ausruf des Erstaunens, des Unwillens, des Widerspruchs Erste Person plural : unser

Letter map: oho vs ons

Shared letters muted; letters that set oho and ons apart highlighted. Shared run: 1. oho (VCV) and ons (VCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
oho
3 ch
ons

Part-of-speech tell for oho / ons

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: oho is anintj and onsapronoun. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66169, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oho is recorded at frequency rank #35,942, classified as anintj, pronounced [oˈhoː]. ons is at rank #30,227, tagged as apron.

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 66169, this pair ranks #582,310 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of oho vs ons

Shared letters: o. Private to "oho": h. Private to "ons": ns.

"oho" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ons" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "oho" for "ons" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oho" is an intj and "ons" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "oho" or "ons"?
"ons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,227 in our German list, against #35,942 for "oho". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "oho" vs "ons" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "oho" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #582,310 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oho" and "ons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs oho". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #582,310 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