Which to use
“onus” and “ops” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,402
- “onus” frequency rank
- #9,639
- “ops” frequency rank
- 39041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | onus | ops |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A legal obligation. | operations |
Letter map: onus vs ops
Shared letters muted; letters that set onus and ops apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Spelling & dictionary notes on onus vs ops
onus and ops are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
onus is recorded at frequency rank #29,402, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈəʊnəs/. ops is at rank #9,639, tagged as anoun.
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 39041, this pair ranks #280,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of onus vs ops
Shared letters: os. Private to "onus": nu. Private to "ops": p.
"onus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ops" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- onus ← onnus · onsu · onuss · ouns
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "onus" and "ops" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "onus" vs "ops" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pair "onus" vs "ops" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "onus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ops" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #280,394 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "onus" and "ops" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "onus vs OWS". 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 #280,394 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.