oof
/uːf/
"oof" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“oof” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #23,927) as an interjection. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.
- #23,927
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A sound mimicking the loss of air, as if someone's solar plexus had just been struck.
Corpus desk
Index EN-oof · oof · English
oof · rank #23,927 · 0 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #23,927
- LEN-MID 3 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH omnibus
Nearest frequency peer: omnibus (-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 “oof”
Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below
- nightlife
nightlife
76,078 corpus weight
- NYU
NYU
76,077 corpus weight
- omnibus
omnibus
76,075 corpus weight
- oof
oof
76,074 corpus weight
- OPEC
OPEC
76,073 corpus weight
- Orwell
Orwell
76,071 corpus weight
What this shows Bars place “oof” 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 | oof |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /uːf/ |
| Letters | 3 |
| Frequency rank | #23,927 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Corpus rank beside confusables of “oof”
Easy to mix with look-alikes
The spelling risk for oof is neighbouring look-alikes ("or", "op", …), not just typos; it is aninterjection pronounced /uːf/. Frequency #23,927 among 1,431 “O” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.
Zero misspellings are on record for oof in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "or", "op", "OS", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: An onomatopoeia. Similar to Dutch oef and German uff. The correct English form is oof, spelled O-O-F.
Definition
- 1A sound mimicking the loss of air, as if someone's solar plexus had just been struck.
- 2Synonym of ouch (“expressing sympathy at another's pain, shock at a high price, etc.”).
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how oof appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Whap, Biff, Ooooof, Sock, Pow, Zok! Batman is back. Gotham City is again leaving its law and order in the hands of a man who wears plastic underpants over his tights.
"Oof, you just lost a lot of progress. That's a real frustration, a real punch in the gut."
Etymology
An onomatopoeia. Similar to Dutch oef and German uff.
This word in other languages
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 "oof", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).