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PlainSpell

oh

/oʊ/interjection, noun, verb

oh is spelled O-H: 2 letters and one syllable. It appears 269 times per million words in written English, the 356th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As an interjection, oh means “Expression of surprise” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).

How many letters and syllables are in oh?

Letters2: O-H
Syllables1 (from its American pronunciation)
In writing269 times per million words; the 356th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Sounds like
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is oh?

Oh appears 269 times per million words in written English, the 356th 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 oh?

  • UK /əʊ/
  • [ö̞]
  • US /oʊ/

Oh 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: En-uk-oh.ogg, En-us-oh-surprise.ogg, En-us-oh-realization.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with oh

Sounds like: o, owe (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).

Also written: o, oh snap.

Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with oh?

The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as oh from its last stressed vowel (/oʊ/):

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 oh

  • ohs plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • ohing participle, present
  • ohed participle, past
  • o

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

What does oh mean?

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

interjection

  1. 1

    Expression of surprise.

    Oh! I didn't see you there.

  2. 2

    Expression of wonder, amazement, or awe.

    Oh, wow! That's amazing.

  3. 3

    Expression of understanding, affirmation, recognition, or realization.

    Oh, so that's how it works.

  4. 4

    A word to precede an annoyed remark.

    Oh, leave me alone.

  5. 5

    A word to precede an added or offhand comment or afterthought.

    Oh, and don't forget your coat.

  6. 6

    An invocation or address (similar to the vocative in languages with noun declension), often with a term of endearment.

    Oh, gosh.

  7. 7

    Exclamation for drama or emphasis.

    Oh, when will it end?

  8. 8

    Expression of pain. See ouch.

    Oh! That hurt.

noun

  1. 1

    An utterance of oh; a spoken expression of surprise, acknowledgement, etc.

  2. 2

    The name of the Latin script letter O/o.

  3. 3

    The digit 0 (especially in representations of speech)

verb

  1. 1

    To utter the interjection oh; to express surprise, etc.

noun

as OH
  1. 1

    Initialism of other half: a husband, wife, partner, etc.

  2. 2

    USInitialism of observation helicopter.

  3. 3

    Initialism of overheard; a post whose contents were overheard by its author.

    OH: "We should just burn the whole place down"

  4. 4

    Initialism of office hours.

symbol

as OH
  1. 1

    A hydroxyl, or alcohol, functional group.

  2. 2

    A hydroxide radical, or hydroxyl group.

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

Oh in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchoh, ah (expression of surprise), ô (vocative)
Germanach, oh (expression of surprise), o (vocative)
Portugueseó (expression of surprise), ah (expression of understanding)
Spanishoh, ay, ou (expression of surprise)

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 oh come from?

Inherited from Middle English o.

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

What to look up after oh