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PlainSpell

of

/ʌv/preposition, verb

of is spelled O-F: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 25,119 times per million words in written English, the 4th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “of vs off” about 320 times a month (Google, United States). As a preposition, of means “Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in of?

Letters2: O-F
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing25,119 times per million words; the 4th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is of?

Of appears 25,119 times per million words in written English, the 4th most frequent word form in the list.

Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).

How do you pronounce of?

  • UK /ɒv/
  • British /ɔv/
  • US /ʌv/

Of has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: LL-Q1860_(eng)-Naomi_Persephone_Amethyst_(NaomiAmethyst)-of.wav, En-us-of.ogg, En-us-piece_of_cake.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with of

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

of vs off320 G
have vs of140 G
of vs ov0 B

Also written: o, ov.

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with of?

5 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as of from its last stressed vowel (/ʌv/):

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of of

  • ov
  • ob
  • o
  • o'
  • a

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does of mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

preposition

  1. 1

    obsoleteFrom (a place); off.

    Take the chicken out of the freezer.

  2. 2

    Since, from (a given time, earlier state etc.).

    He hasn't been well of late.

  3. 3

    From, away from (a position, number, distance etc.).

    There are no shops within twenty miles of the cottage.

  4. 4

    Indicating removal, absence or separation, with the action indicated by a transitive verb and the quality or substance by a grammatical object.

    Finally she was relieved of the burden of caring for her sick husband.

  5. 5

    Indicating removal, absence or separation, with resulting state indicated by an adjective.

    He seemed devoid of human feelings.

  6. 6

    obsoleteIndicating removal, absence or separation, construed with an intransitive verb.

  7. 7

    Indicating an ancestral source or origin of descent.

    The word is believed to be of Japanese origin.

  8. 8

    Introducing an epithet that indicates a birthplace, residence, dominion, or other place associated with the individual.

    Jesus of Nazareth (after hometown)

noun

as OF
  1. 1

    Abbreviation of outfield.

  2. 2

    Abbreviation of outfielder.

  3. 3

    Abbreviation of OnlyFans (“an account on OnlyFans”).

verb

  1. 1

    Eye dialect spelling of have and 've, chiefly in depictions of colloquial speech.

    I have refrained from giving many details which I might of done, from feelings of delicacy; indeed, they were of so dark and dreadful a nature, that I could do no more than hint at them

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Of in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchde (containing, comprising or made from), quant à (introducing topic or subject matter)
Germanaus (containing, comprising or made from), über (introducing topic or subject matter), von (possessive genitive: belonging to), der (connecting numeral or quantifier with quantified)
Portuguesede (containing, comprising or made from), sobre, em, a respeito de (introducing topic or subject matter)
Spanishde (containing, comprising or made from), en cuanto a, acerca de (introducing topic or subject matter)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does of come from?

From Middle English of, from Old English of (“from, out of, off”), an unstressed form of æf, from Proto-West Germanic *ab, from Proto-Germanic *ab (“away; away from”), from Proto-Indo-European *h₂epó (“away”). Doublet of off, which is the stressed descendant of the same Old English word. More at off.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after of