Oates
/əʊts/
"oates" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“Oates” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,648 in English word frequency and used as a proper noun.
- #28,648
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 17
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A surname.
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
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for Oates is 5 letters long, classified as a proper noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əʊts/. Corpus data places it at rank #28,648 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “Oates”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-A-T-E-S - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əʊts/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “OTS” - see the side-by-side comparison. Oates vs OTS
- 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.