onuvsopTell them apart

Quick tell: onu is a pronoun, op is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“onu” is a pronoun and “op” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,259
“onu” frequency rank
#2,889
“op” frequency rank
7148
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature onu op
Definition Accusatif de o. Sur.

Where the eye mixes onu and op

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
onu
2 ch
op

Look-alike desk: onu vs op

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: onu is \o.ˈnu\ while op is \ɔp\. 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 preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

onu is recorded at frequency rank #4,259, classified as apron, pronounced \o.ˈnu\. op is at rank #2,889, tagged as aprep, pronounced \ɔp\.

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 7148, this pair ranks #424,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of onu vs op

Shared letters: o. Private to "onu": nu. Private to "op": p.

"onu" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "op" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "onu" for "op" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "onu" is a pronoun and "op" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "onu" vs "op" - which ranks higher?
"op" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,889 in our French list, against #4,259 for "onu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "onu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "op" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,071 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "onu" and "op" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "och vs onu". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #424,071 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list