Which to use
“obese” is an adjective and “obey” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,573
- “obese” frequency rank
- #9,219
- “obey” frequency rank
- 20792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obese | obey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build; or, having a body mass index over 30 kg/m². | To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. |
Where the eye mixes obese and obey
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. obese runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against obey's 4 (VCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between obese and obey
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obese is /oʊˈbis/ while obey is /əʊˈbeɪ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obese is recorded at frequency rank #11,573, classified as anadj, pronounced /oʊˈbis/. 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 20792, this pair ranks #428,623 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of obese vs obey
Shared letters: beo. Private to "obese": s. Private to "obey": y.
"obese" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "obey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "obese" for "obey" ever safe?
Which is more common, "obese" or "obey"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "obese" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obey" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,623 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obese" and "obey" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obese vs obverse". 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
Confusion rank #428,623 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.