Which to use
“oath” is a noun and “oft” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,587
- “oath” frequency rank
- #21,016
- “oft” frequency rank
- 28603
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oath | oft |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A solemn pledge or promise that invokes a deity, a ruler, or another entity (not necessarily present) to attest the truth of a statement or sincerity of one's desire to fulfill a contract or promise. | often; frequently; not rarely |
Where the eye mixes oath and oft
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: oath vs oft
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oath is /ˈəʊθ/ while oft is /ɔft/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28603, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oath is recorded at frequency rank #7,587, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈəʊθ/. oft is at rank #21,016, tagged as anadv, pronounced /ɔft/.
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 28603, this pair ranks #369,755 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of oath vs oft
Shared letters: ot. Private to "oath": ah. Private to "oft": f.
"oath" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "oft" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- oath ← aoth · oaht · oathh · oatth · otah
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "oath" and "oft" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "oath" or "oft" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "oath" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oft" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,755 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oath" and "oft" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oft vs omi". 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 #369,755 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.