Oahu
/oʊˈɑhu/
"oahu" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Oahu” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #29,397 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #29,397
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 4
- tracked misspellings
- 19
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The third-largest island of Hawaii, included in the City and County of Honolulu.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | Oahu |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /oʊˈɑhu/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #29,397 |
| Misspellings tracked | 4 |
| Confusable pairs | 19 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Oahu” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Oahu is 4 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /oʊˈɑhu/. Corpus data places it at rank #29,397 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "The third-largest island of Hawaii, included in the City and County of Honolulu.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 4 likely wrong-spelling variants for Oahu, with forms such as "aohu", "oahhu", and "oauh". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 19 confusable-pair relationships, "OH", "ou", "oak", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Hawaiian Oʻahu, probably a corruption of Hawaiian o + Hawaiian ahu (cognate with Rapa Nui ahu), thus [place] of an altar or platform. The correct English form is Oahu, spelled O-A-H-U.
Definition
- 1The third-largest island of Hawaii, included in the City and County of Honolulu.
Etymology
From Hawaiian Oʻahu, probably a corruption of Hawaiian o + Hawaiian ahu (cognate with Rapa Nui ahu), thus [place] of an altar or platform.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aohu,oahhu,oauh,ohau
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Oahu - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Oahu"?
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Using “Oahu”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-A-H-U - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /oʊˈɑhu/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “OH” - see the side-by-side comparison. Oahu vs OH
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.