Oates
/əʊts/
"oates" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Oates” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #28,648. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #28,648
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A surname.
Corpus desk
Index EN-oates · Oates · English
Oates · rank #28,648 · 6 variants · 17 confusables
- FREQ-MID #28,648
- LEN-MID 5 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 17 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH oars
Nearest frequency peer: oars (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “Oates”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- numeric
numeric
71,357 corpus weight
- O'Keefe
O'Keefe
71,355 corpus weight
- oars
oars
71,354 corpus weight
- Oates
Oates
71,353 corpus weight
- ohm
ohm
71,352 corpus weight
- OOP
OOP
71,350 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “Oates” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | Oates |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Proper noun |
| IPA | /əʊts/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #28,648 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 17 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “Oates” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around Oates (IPA /əʊts/), aproper noun. Corpus frequency is #28,648 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for Oates, with forms such as "aotes", "oaets", and "oatess". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 17 confusable-pair relationships, "OTS", "ones", "oath", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: * As an English and Irish surname of Norman origin, from Old Norman Ode, Odes, from the Germanic name Audo, shortened from compound names containing the element *aud (“wealth”). See also Ott. * As an Irish and Manx surname, from Ó Cuirc or Mac Cuirc and mis… The correct English form is Oates, spelled O-A-T-E-S.
Definition
- 1A surname.
- 2An unincorporated community in Reynolds County, Missouri, United States.
Etymology
* As an English and Irish surname of Norman origin, from Old Norman Ode, Odes, from the Germanic name Audo, shortened from compound names containing the element *aud (“wealth”). See also Ott. * As an Irish and Manx surname, from Ó Cuirc or Mac Cuirc and mistakenly associated with coirce (“oats”). See Quirk.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- aotes
- oaets
- oatess
- oatse
- oattes
- otaes
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of Oates - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "Oates"?
What does "Oates" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "Oates", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (6 here; floor ≥5).
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.