Which to use
“oasis” and “oaths” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,768
- “oasis” frequency rank
- #32,518
- “oaths” frequency rank
- 46286
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oasis | oaths |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A spring of fresh water, surrounded by a fertile region of vegetation, in a desert. | plural of oath |
Where the eye mixes oasis and oaths
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between oasis and oaths
A purely visual mix-up. oasis (/əʊˈeɪsɪs/) and oaths (/əʊðz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oasis is recorded at frequency rank #13,768, classified as anoun, pronounced /əʊˈeɪsɪs/. oaths is at rank #32,518, tagged as anoun, pronounced /əʊðz/.
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 46286, this pair ranks #213,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of oasis vs oaths
Shared letters: aos. Private to "oasis": i. Private to "oaths": ht.
"oasis" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC · "oaths" · 5 letters · shape VVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "oasis" for "oaths" ever safe?
Which is more common, "oasis" or "oaths"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "oasis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oaths" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #213,202 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oasis" and "oaths" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oaths vs OTS". 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 #213,202 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.