Ok or okay?
ok is a noun meaning “Endorsement; approval; acceptance; acquiescence”; okay is a noun meaning “Alternative spelling of OK”. Wiktionary gives them as spellings of the same word. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) ok is about as common as okay.
What is the difference between ok and okay?
| ok | okay | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb, adjective, adverb, interjection | noun, verb, adjective, adverb, interjection |
| Meaning | Endorsement; approval; acceptance; acquiescence To approve; to accept; to acquiesce to To confirm by activating a button marked OK | Alternative spelling of OK |
| Example | We can start as soon as we get the OK | none recorded |
| Forms | OKs, OK's | okays |
| Pronunciation | /ˌəʊˈkeɪ/ /ˌoʊˈkeɪ/ /əˈkeɪ/ | /ˌəʊˈkeɪ/ /ˌoʊˈkeɪ/ [ˌɔˈkej] |
| In writing | 138 times per million words | 115 times per million words |
Sources: ok and okay 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 ok and okay
ok
- 1
Endorsement; approval; acceptance; acquiescence
We can start as soon as we get the OK
- 2
To approve; to accept; to acquiesce to
I don't want to OK this amount of money
- 3
All right, acceptable, permitted
Is it OK if I spend the night?
- 4
Satisfactorily, sufficiently well
The team did OK in the playoffs
- 5
Used to indicate acknowledgement or acceptance
I promise to give it back. – OK
- 6
Karaoke
- 7
informalAlternative letter-case form of OK
- 8
Alternative form of OK (“okay”)
okay
- 1
Alternative spelling of OK
- 2
Alternative spelling of OK
- 3
Alternative spelling of OK
- 4
Alternative spelling of OK
- 5
Alternative spelling of OK
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, ok or okay?
ok appears 138 times per million words; okay 115 times per million words.
ok 138 times per million wordsokay 115 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 ok vs okay?
“ok vs okay” is searched about 2,900 times a month on Google and 170 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“okay vs ok”, “ok or okay”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.