Which to use
“on” is a pronoun and “oui” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29
- “on” frequency rank
- #132
- “oui” frequency rank
- 161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | on | oui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier. — Note d’usage : S’utilise pour désigner une ou des personnes indéfinies, en remplacement d’une forme passive. | Mot utilisé pour apporter une réponse affirmative ou marquer l'accord sur une proposition. Il s’emploie aussi au début d’une phrase qui ne répond pas à une question exprimée ou au cours d’une phrase, pour marquer ou accentuer le caractère affirmatif de cette phrase. Il s’emploie dans le discours direct en réponse à une interrogation. Il est alors seul ou joint à des adverbes qui renforcent l’affirmation comme certes, vraiment, etc. |
Where the eye mixes on and oui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: on is \ɔ̃\ while oui is \wi\. 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 (pronoun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
on is recorded at frequency rank #29, classified as apron, pronounced \ɔ̃\. oui is at rank #132, tagged as anadv, pronounced \wi\.
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 161, this pair ranks #440,037 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of on vs oui
Shared letters: o. Private to "on": n. Private to "oui": iu.
"on" · 2 letters · shape VC · "oui" · 3 letters · shape VVV