of

\ʌv\

/\ʌv\/ prep

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

The verdict

“of” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #558) as a preposition. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#558
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - De. Indique une origine, une substance, une possession, etc.

Corpus desk

Index FR-of · of · French

of · rank #558 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-CORE #558
  • LEN-SHORT 2 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH milieu

Nearest frequency peer: milieu (-1 rank slots)

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 neighbourhood for “of”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “of” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

of vs on
50% similar
of vs ou
50% similar
of vs or
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for of
PropertyValue
Headwordof
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPreposition
IPA\ʌv\
Letters2
Frequency rank#558
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “of” sits in French frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).of lands here:

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

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

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for of is neighbouring look-alikes ("on", "ou", …), not just typos; it is apreposition pronounced \ʌv\. Frequency #558 among 1,642 “O” headwords. 2 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

of has no tracked misspelling variants, suggesting the orthography follows predictable French patterns. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "on", "ou", "or", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This entry carries no recorded etymology, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is of, spelled O-F.

Definition

  1. 1
    De. Indique une origine, une substance, une possession, etc.
  2. 2
    De. Indique une séparation avec certains verbes.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how of appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. The university of Ottawa.
  2. The king of beasts.

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 3, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "of"?
"of" is spelled O-F. The IPA pronunciation is \ʌv\.
What does "of" mean?
As a preposition, "of" means: De. Indique une origine, une substance, une possession, etc.
What words are commonly confused with "of"?
"of" is commonly confused with "on", "ou", "or". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "of"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "of" is \ʌv\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "of" come from?
"of" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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.

What to do next

You've looked up "of". Here's where to go from here.

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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