Which to use
“os” is an article and “ou” is a conjunction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19
- “os” frequency rank
- #36
- “ou” frequency rank
- 55
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | os | ou |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | usado para apontar um nome definido, único | une palavras ou orações, podendo designar alternativa ou incompatibilidade |
Where the eye mixes os and ou
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses os with ou
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: os is /uʃ/, /us/ (menos frequente); enfático: /oʃ/, /os/ (menos frequente) while ou is /ow/, /o/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “os” becomes u in “ou”, and the parts of speech differ too (article vs conjunction), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
os is recorded at frequency rank #19, classified as anarticle, pronounced /uʃ/, /us/ (menos frequente); enfático: /oʃ/, /os/ (menos frequente). ou is at rank #36, tagged as aconj, pronounced /ow/, /o/.
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 55, this pair ranks #75,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of os vs ou
Shared letters: o. Private to "os": s. Private to "ou": u.
"os" · 2 letters · shape VC · "ou" · 2 letters · shape VV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "os" for "ou" ever safe?
Frequency check: "os" vs "ou" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "os" and "ou" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "os" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ou" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #75,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "os" and "ou" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oni vs ou". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #75,596 of 75,631 scored Portuguese pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.