Which to use
“omen” and “opens” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,845
- “omen” frequency rank
- #3,441
- “opens” frequency rank
- 28286
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | omen | opens |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Something which portends or is perceived to portend either a good or evil event or circumstance in the future, or which causes a foreboding; a portent or augury. | plural of open |
Where the eye mixes omen and opens
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses omen with opens
A purely visual mix-up. omen (/ˈəʊmən/) and opens (/ˈoʊ.pənz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28286, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
omen is recorded at frequency rank #24,845, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈəʊmən/. opens is at rank #3,441, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈoʊ.pənz/.
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 28286, this pair ranks #372,247 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of omen vs opens
Shared letters: eno. Private to "omen": m. Private to "opens": ps.
"omen" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "opens" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "omen" and "opens" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "omen" or "opens" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "omen" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "opens" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,247 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "omen" and "opens" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "omen 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 #372,247 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.