onsvsotaConfusable pair

Quick tell: ons is a pronoun, ota is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ons” is a pronoun and “ota” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,564
“ons” frequency rank
#31,082
“ota” frequency rank
79646
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ons ota
Definition pronome pessoal neutro do caso nominativo da terceira pessoa do plural expressa regozijo pela dor ou sofrimento alheio

Where the eye mixes ons and ota

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

3 ch
ons
3 ch
ota

Visual trap between ons and ota

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ons is /ons/ while ota is /ˈo.tɐ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (pronoun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79646, 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/. ota is at rank #31,082, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ˈo.tɐ/.

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 79646, this pair ranks #1,469 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ons vs ota

Shared letters: o. Private to "ons": ns. Private to "ota": at.

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ons" and "ota" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ons" is a pronoun and "ota" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ons" or "ota"?
"ota" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,082 in our Portuguese list, against #48,564 for "ons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ons" and "ota" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ota" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,469 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ons" and "ota" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oni vs ons". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #1,469 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