Which to use
“ons” is a pronoun and “onze” is a num - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,564
- “ons” frequency rank
- #5,665
- “onze” frequency rank
- 54229
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ons | onze |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | pronome pessoal neutro do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do plural | 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 eye mixes ons and onze
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ons with onze
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ons is /ons/ while onze is /ˈõ.zɨ/. 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 num), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54229, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ons is recorded at frequency rank #48,564, classified as apron, pronounced /ons/. 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 54229, this pair ranks #11,428 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ons vs onze
Shared letters: no. Private to "ons": s. Private to "onze": ez.
"ons" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "onze" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- onze ← noze · onez · onnze · onzze · ozne
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ons" and "onze" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary Portuguese text, does "ons" or "onze" show up more?
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 "ons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "onze" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #11,428 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ons" and "onze" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oni vs ons". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #11,428 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.