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“Oh” or “Owe”

oh / owe are similar-sounding terms with different meanings (referred to as homophones). To better understand the differences, see below for definitions, pronunciation guides, and example sentences using each term.

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Definitions

What each term means

Same sound, different spellings and meanings, shown with a pronunciation guide for each term.

oh OW

No dictionary entry for this spelling — see the usage examples below for how it shows up in writing.

owe OW

  • verbbe obliged to pay or repay.
  • verbbe indebted to, in an abstract or intellectual sense.
  • verbbe in debt.
Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“oh”

  • …David returns, Hester inadvertently exclaims "Oh, Jack" while David is caressing
  • Park Yoon-jae as Oh Jin-ahm
  • Oh Ji-yeon as Kim-sshi
  • "Oh!
  • Oh Ki-chan as Oh Bong-yi
  • …The Four Seasons' "December, 1963 (Oh, What a Night)"
  • …can be conveniently converted to -OH, -CN, or a halide via…
  • …damage their contents) and screaming "Oh Gosh It Hurts!"
  • …shot his first feature-length film Oh Moon in 1989 as a…
  • …Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH

“owe”

  • The Truth We Owe Each Other: Mutual Accountability in…
  • …for Sheard's debut project, I Owe You.
  • …sense of normality and I owe her more than I can…
  • …must pay the debt they owe to their suppressed brothers and
  • He resides in the lowest layer of Hell, Nessus, and…
  • The animations were written by Owe Gustafson and voice-overs were made…
  • …please don’t sue me...I probably owe you the price of a…
  • or movable lanterns owe their name to the fact…
  • …the Swiss Traditional Costume Association owe their origins to the Unspunnen
  • I Owe You, debut studio album by…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license. Definitions are drawn from WordNet.

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