oncevsonzeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“once” and “onze” are a confusable Portuguese pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,301
“once” frequency rank
#5,665
“onze” frequency rank
17966
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature once onze
Definition onze número equivalente a dez mais um; cardinalidade de um conjunto que contenha onze elementos distintos; representado pelo símbolo 11 (algarismos arábicos) ou XI (algarismos romanos)

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set once and onze apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
once
4 ch
onze

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. once (/ˈɔnθe/) and onze (/ˈõ.zɨ/) 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 a single letter - c in “once” becomes z in “onze”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17966, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

once is recorded at frequency rank #12,301, classified as anum, pronounced /ˈɔnθe/. onze is at rank #5,665, tagged as anum, pronounced /ˈõ.zɨ/.

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 17966, this pair ranks #53,141 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of once vs onze

Shared letters: eno. Private to "once": c. Private to "onze": z.

"once" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "onze" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • oncenoce · oncce · onec · onnce
  • onzenoze · onez · onnze · onzze · ozne

Frequency comparison

once#12,301
onze#5,665

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "once" and "onze" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɔnθe/ versus /ˈõ.zɨ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "once" or "onze"?
"onze" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,665 in our Portuguese list, against #12,301 for "once". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering once vs onze

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “once” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list