oni
/ˈəʊni/
"oni" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“oni” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #36,267) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #36,267
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A Japanese evil spirit or demon.
Corpus desk
Index EN-oni · oni · English
oni · rank #36,267 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #36,267
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH outgrown
Nearest frequency peer: outgrown (+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 neighbours of confusable “oni”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- nim
nim
63,738 corpus weight
- NOI
NOI
63,737 corpus weight
- oni
oni
63,734 corpus weight
- outgrown
outgrown
63,733 corpus weight
- outpouring
outpouring
63,732 corpus weight
- overdone
overdone
63,731 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “oni” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.
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 | oni |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈəʊni/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #36,267 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “oni”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for oni is neighbouring look-alikes ("or", "op", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /ˈəʊni/. Frequency #36,267 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Gloss: "A Japanese evil spirit or demon.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for oni in our index, a sign its spelling follows regular English conventions. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "or", "op", "OS", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Japanese 鬼 (oni). The correct English form is oni, spelled O-N-I.
Definition
- 1A Japanese evil spirit or demon.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how oni appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
ONI 鬼. Generic name for devils, the representation of which in art is quite a common feature. Onis have claws, a square head with two horns, sharp teeth, and malignant eyes surmounted by big eyebrows; occasionally they wear trousers of tiger skin.
Across the ocean, in Japan, there once lived curious creatures called Onis. Every Japanese boy and girl has heard of them, though one has not often been caught.
Etymology
From Japanese 鬼 (oni).
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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "oni", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).