Which to use
“oud” and “ox” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,901
- “oud” frequency rank
- #40,903
- “ox” frequency rank
- 81804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oud | ox |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Luth à cordes pincées, au corps piriforme, au manche court couvert d'une touche lisse dépourvue de frettes, à onze ou douze cordes, très répandu dans les pays arabes, en Turquie, en Grèce et en Arménie. Il se joue avec un plectre. | Bœuf. |
Where the eye mixes oud and ox
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between oud and ox
A purely visual mix-up. oud (\ud\) and ox (\ɒks\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 81804, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oud is recorded at frequency rank #40,901, classified as anoun, pronounced \ud\. ox is at rank #40,903, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɒks\.
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 81804, this pair ranks #18,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of oud vs ox
Shared letters: o. Private to "oud": du. Private to "ox": x.
"oud" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "ox" · 2 letters · shape VC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "oud" for "ox" ever safe?
Which is more common, "oud" or "ox"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "oud" and "ox" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "oud" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #18,009 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oud" and "ox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "och vs ox". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #18,009 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.