Word.ws English Dictionary

be on to

be on to verb: to figure out; to realize the truth.

Verb

be on to (third-person singular simple present is on to, present participle being on to, simple past was on to, past participle been on to)

  1. (idiomatic) To figure out; to realize the truth.
    • I was planning it as a surprise, but I think he is on to me.

Forms of be on to

third-person singular presentis on to
present participlebeing on to
pastwas on to
past participlebeen on to

Questions about be on to

What does be on to mean?
Be on to means to figure out; to realize the truth.
What part of speech is be on to?
Be on to is a verb.
What is the past tense of be on to?
The past tense of be on to is was on to.

Words near be on to in the dictionary

  1. be on someone's dick
  2. be on someone's nuts
  3. Be On the Look Out
  4. be on the lookout
  5. be on the lookouts
  6. be on to
  7. be one thing
  8. be one's own man
  9. be one's own worst enemy
  10. be oneself
  11. be onto

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: be on to (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-be on to.ogg.

Cite this entry: “be on to.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/be_on_to. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.