Which to use
“Oban” is a name and “obey” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,935
- “Oban” frequency rank
- #9,219
- “obey” frequency rank
- 58154
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Oban | obey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A town in Argyll and Bute council area, Scotland (OS grid ref NM8530). | To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. |
Where the eye mixes Oban and obey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Oban is /ˈəʊbən/ while obey is /əʊˈbeɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Oban is recorded at frequency rank #48,935, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈəʊbən/. obey is at rank #9,219, tagged as averb, pronounced /əʊˈbeɪ/.
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 58154, this pair ranks #114,520 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of Oban vs obey
Shared letters: bo. Private to "Oban": an. Private to "obey": ey.
"Oban" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "obey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV