Of or off?
of is a preposition meaning “Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.)”; off is an adverb meaning “In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point”. Use of as a preposition and off as an adverb (off is also a preposition: “Not positioned upon; away from a position upon”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) of is about 30 times as common as off.
What is the difference between of and off?
| of | off | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | preposition, verb, noun, prefix | adverb, adjective, preposition, verb, noun, suffix, prefix |
| Meaning | Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.) From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.) UKA regulatory body for a specified industry | In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point Into a state of non-operation or non-existence Inoperative, disabled |
| Example | Take the chicken out of the freezer | He drove off in a cloud of smoke |
| Forms | ov, ob, o, o', a | none |
| Pronunciation | /ɒv/ /ɔv/ /ʌv/ | /ɒf/ /ɔːf/ /ɔf/ |
| In writing | 25,119 times per million words | 851 times per million words |
Sources: of and off in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of of and off
of
- 1
Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.)
He hasn't been well of late
- 2
Eye dialect spelling of have and 've, chiefly in depictions of colloquial speech
I have refrained from giving many details which I might of done, from feelings of delicacy; indeed, they were of so dark and dreadful a nature, that I could do no more than hint…
- 3
Abbreviation of outfield
- 4
UKA regulatory body for a specified industry
- 5
From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.)
There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage
- 6
Abbreviation of outfielder
- 7
Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object
Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband
- 8
Abbreviation of OnlyFans (“an account on OnlyFans”)
off
- 1
In a direction away from the speaker or other reference point
He drove off in a cloud of smoke
- 2
Inoperative, disabled
All the lights are off
- 3
Not positioned upon; away from a position upon
He's off the roof now
- 4
slangTo kill
- 5
Beginning; starting point
He has been very obviously an untrustworthy narrator right from the off
- 6
Officer
- 7
Abbreviation of office
- 8
A competition [of the activity denoted by the word it combines with], especially a final, tiebreaker, or repechage within a broader tournament
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, of or off?
of appears 25,119 times per million words; off 851 times per million words.
of 25,119 times per million wordsoff 851 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search of vs off?
“of vs off” is searched about 320 times a month on Google and 20 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“off vs of”, “of or off”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.