Often vs Frequently vs Oft vs Oftentimes

Often, frequently, oft, oftentimes may be used with little or no distinction to mean again and again in more or less close succession.

But often stresses the number of times a thing occurs, without regard to the interval of recurrence; frequently usually stresses repetition, especially at short intervals.

Oft and oftentimes differ little from often; oft, however, is used chiefly in compound adjectives or occasionally in formal discourse and oftentimes is occasionally preferred for intonational reasons.