Ouse

name

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"ouse" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“Ouse” is uncommon English (frequency #53,750 among 15,494 “O” headwords), classed as a proper noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

#53,750
frequency rank, English
15,494
“O” headwords

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Various rivers in England.

Key facts for Ouse
PropertyValue
HeadwordOuse
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechProper noun
Letters4
Frequency rank#53,750
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “Ouse” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). Ouse lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

Ouse is uncommon English at frequency #53,750 among 15,494 “O” headwords, classed as aproper noun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. 6 senses are on record.

Ouse has no tracked misspelling variants, typically a sign the spelling maps closely to how the word sounds. Our dataset records no confusable match here, since nothing in our dataset looks or sounds close enough to cause mix-ups.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Old English Usa, probably of Romano-British Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *udso-, from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). The correct English form is Ouse, spelled O-U-S-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Various rivers in England.
  2. 2
    Various rivers in England.
  3. 3
    Various rivers in England.
  4. 4
    Various rivers in England.
  5. 5
    Various rivers in England.
  6. 6
    A locality in Central Highlands Council, central Tasmania, Australia.

Etymology

From Old English Usa, probably of Romano-British Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *udso-, from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”).

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

How do you spell "Ouse"?
"Ouse" is spelled O-U-S-E.
What does "Ouse" mean?
As a proper noun, "Ouse" means: Various rivers in England.
What is the origin of the word "Ouse"?
From Old English Usa, probably of Romano-British Celtic origin, from Proto-Celtic *udso-, from Proto-Indo-European *wed- (“water”). See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “Ouse”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is O-U-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words

Other uncommon English words near this rank

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.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list