onivsonsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,618
“oni” frequency rank
#48,564
“ons” frequency rank
98182
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oni ons
Definition pronome pessoal do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do plural de gênero masculino pessoal, eles pronome pessoal neutro do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do plural

Letter map: oni vs ons

Shared letters muted; letters that set oni and ons apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

3 ch
oni
3 ch
ons

Corpus notes: oni and ons

oni and ons are indexed as a confusable Portuguese pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by a single letter - i in “oni” becomes s in “ons”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 98182, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oni is recorded at frequency rank #49,618, classified as apron. ons is at rank #48,564, tagged as apron, pronounced /ons/.

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 98182, this pair ranks #10 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of oni vs ons

Shared letters: no. Private to "oni": i. Private to "ons": s.

"oni" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ons" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "oni" and "ons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They differ by a single letter - i in “oni” becomes s in “ons”, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "oni" or "ons"?
"ons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #48,564 in our Portuguese list, against #49,618 for "oni". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "oni" and "ons".

  • Full dictionary entry for "oni" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #10 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oni" and "ons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oda vs oni". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #10 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list