optvsownWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: opt is a verb, own is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“opt” is a verb and “own” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,009
“opt” frequency rank
#19,664
“own” frequency rank
37673
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature opt own
Definition (to opt for something) sich für etwas entscheiden (optieren) eigen

Letter map: opt vs own

Shared letters muted; letters that set opt and own apart highlighted. Shared run: 1.

3 ch
opt
3 ch
own

Grammar separator: opt vs own

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: opt is averb and ownanadjective. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37673, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

opt is recorded at frequency rank #18,009, classified as averb, pronounced […]. own is at rank #19,664, tagged as anadj, pronounced [əʊn].

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 37673, this pair ranks #1,584,040 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of opt vs own

Shared letters: o. Private to "opt": pt. Private to "own": nw.

"opt" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "own" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "opt" for "own" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "opt" is a verb and "own" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "opt" vs "own" - which ranks higher?
"opt" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,009 in our German list, against #19,664 for "own". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've compared "opt" and "own". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "opt" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "own" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,584,040 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "opt" and "own" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "OGH vs own". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,584,040 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