Word.ws English Dictionary

be onto

be onto is the alternative form of be on to.

Meaning of be on to

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 onto

third-person singular presentis onto
present participlebeing onto
pastwas onto
past participlebeen onto

Questions about be onto

What is be onto the alternative form of?
Be onto is the alternative form of be on to.

Words near be onto in the dictionary

  1. be on to
  2. be one thing
  3. be one's own man
  4. be one's own worst enemy
  5. be oneself
  6. be onto
  7. be onto nothing
  8. be onto something
  9. be out for
  10. be part of life's rich pageant
  11. be part of life's rich pattern

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: be onto (page history and authors); 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.

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