Which to use
“only” is an adjective and “ons” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,971
- “only” frequency rank
- #30,227
- “ons” frequency rank
- 38198
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | only | ons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | einzige | Erste Person plural : unser |
Letter map: only vs ons
Shared letters muted; letters that set only and ons apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Part-of-speech tell for only / ons
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: only is anadjective and onsapronoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38198, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
only is recorded at frequency rank #7,971, classified as anadj, pronounced [ˈəʊnli]. 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 38198, this pair ranks #1,570,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of only vs ons
Shared letters: no. Private to "only": ly. Private to "ons": s.
"only" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ons" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- only ← noly · olny · onlly · onlyy · onnly · onyl
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "only" for "ons" ever safe?
Which is more common, "only" or "ons"?
What to do next
You've compared "only" and "ons". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "only" 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 #1,570,297 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "only" and "ons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs ons". 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 #1,570,297 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.