ObervsObstWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“Ober” and “Obst” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#5,747
“Ober” frequency rank
#4,545
“Obst” frequency rank
10292
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Ober Obst
Definition ursprünglich Chefkellner, auch höfliche Anrede für einen einfachen Kellner roh essbare, meist saftige Früchte, die von Bäumen, Sträuchern und mehrjährigen Stauden stammen, mit überwiegend süßlichem oder säuerlichem, „fruchtigem“ Geschmack

Where the eye mixes Ober and Obst

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
Ober
4 ch
Obst

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. Ober ([ˈoːbɐ]) and Obst ([oːpst]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10292, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Ober is recorded at frequency rank #5,747, classified as anoun, pronounced [ˈoːbɐ]. Obst is at rank #4,545, tagged as anoun, pronounced [oːpst].

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 10292, this pair ranks #1,975,854 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of Ober vs Obst

Shared letters: bo. Private to "Ober": er. Private to "Obst": st.

"Ober" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "Obst" · 4 letters · shape VCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Oberboer · obber · oberr · obre · oebr
  • Obstbost · obbst · obsst · obstt · obts · osbt

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Ober" and "Obst" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([ˈoːbɐ] versus [oːpst]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Ober" or "Obst"?
"Obst" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,545 in our German list, against #5,747 for "Ober". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "Ober" and "Obst". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Ober" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Obst" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,975,854 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Ober" and "Obst" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ober vs ones". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list