oírvsosWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: oír is a verb, os is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“oír” is a verb and “os” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,866
“oír” frequency rank
#449
“os” frequency rank
4315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oír os
Definition Percibir sonidos con el oído. Caso acusativo y dativo del pronombre personal vosotros, una de las formas de la segunda persona del plural en español.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set oír and os apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
oír
2 ch
os

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oír is [oˈiɾ] while os is [os]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oír is recorded at frequency rank #3,866, classified as averb, pronounced [oˈiɾ]. os is at rank #449, tagged as apron, pronounced [os].

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 4315, this pair ranks #316,387 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of oír vs os

Shared letters: o. Private to "oír": . Private to "os": s.

"oír" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "os" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "oír" and "os" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oír" is a verb and "os" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "oír" or "os"?
"os" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #449 in our Spanish list, against #3,866 for "oír". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list