oil

[ɔɪl]

/[ɔɪl]/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“oil” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #22,841) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#22,841
frequency rank, German
1,007
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Öl

Corpus desk

Index DE-oil · oil · German

oil · rank #22,841 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #22,841
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,007
  • PHOTO-FINISH obligatorische

Nearest frequency peer: obligatorische (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Häufigkeitsnachbarn des Verwechslers „oil“

Peers mit ähnlichem Corpus-Gewicht, getrennt von den Verwechslungspaaren unten

corpus weight

What this shows Balken platzieren „oil“ gegen die nächsten gerankten deutschen Lemmata, kein Reprint der Verwechslungsdesk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

oil vs ok
33% similar
oil vs on
33% similar
oil vs OP
0% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for oil
PropertyValue
Headwordoil
LanguageGerman
Part of speechNoun
IPA[ɔɪl]
Letters3
Frequency rank#22,841
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus-Rang neben Verwechslern von „oil“

Die Häufigkeit läuft von den wenigen Alltagswörtern (links) bis zur langen, seltenen Schwanzseite (rechts).oilliegt auf dieser Marke:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Die Ticks laufen logarithmisch; jeder ist rund zehnmal seltener. Peers derselben Seltenheitsbandbreite: „obligatorische“ (#22,840), „Orbit“ (#22,842), „Novum“ (#22,839). Unter 1,007 „O“-Lemmata liegt „oil“ bei #22,841. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for oil is neighbouring look-alikes ("ok", "on", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced [ɔɪl]. Frequency #22,841 among 1,007 “O” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

No misspelling variants are generated for oil in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular German conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "ok", "on", "OP", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct German form is oil, spelled O-I-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    Öl
  2. 2
    Ölbild

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how oil appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Oil is repelled by water.
  2. How much did you pay for this oil?

Synonyms

oil painting

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 German corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "oil"?
"oil" is spelled O-I-L. The IPA pronunciation is [ɔɪl].
What does "oil" mean?
As a noun, "oil" means: Öl
What words are commonly confused with "oil"?
"oil" is commonly confused with "ok", "on", "OP". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "oil"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "oil" is [ɔɪl]. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "oil" come from?
"oil" is a German word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar German words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "oil", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked German headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Sue#22,913FKK#22,723Ers#22,708bed#22,645

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list