ox
/ˈɑks/
"ox" is a 2-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“ox” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #15,672 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #15,672
- frequency rank, English
- 2
- letters
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
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 | ox |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈɑks/ |
| Letters | 2 |
| Frequency rank | #15,672 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “ox” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for ox is 2 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈɑks/. Corpus data places it at rank #15,672 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
ox has no tracked misspelling variants, a straightforward case of a spelling with little room for common typos. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "oz", "oy", "oxen", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English oxe, from Old English oxa, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsō, from Proto-Germanic *uhsô (compare West Frisian okse, Dutch os, German Ochse), from Proto-Indo-European *uksḗn. Cognate with Welsh ych (“ox”), Tocharian A ops, Tocharian B okso (… The correct English form is ox, spelled O-X.
Definition
- 1An adult castrated male of cattle (B. taurus), especially when used as a beast of burden.
- 2Any bovine animal (genus Bos).
Etymology
From Middle English oxe, from Old English oxa, from Proto-West Germanic *ohsō, from Proto-Germanic *uhsô (compare West Frisian okse, Dutch os, German Ochse), from Proto-Indo-European *uksḗn. Cognate with Welsh ych (“ox”), Tocharian A ops, Tocharian B okso (“draft-ox”), Avestan 𐬎𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬥 (uxšan, “bull”), Sanskrit उक्षन् (ukṣán).
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
How do you spell "ox"?
What does "ox" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "ox"?
How do you pronounce "ox"?
What is the origin of the word "ox"?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “ox”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-X - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈɑks/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “oz” - see the side-by-side comparison. ox vs oz
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.