Which to use
“obese” is an adjective and “obsess” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,573
- “obese” frequency rank
- #32,948
- “obsess” frequency rank
- 44521
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obese | obsess |
|---|---|---|
| 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 be preoccupied with a single topic or emotion. |
Where the eye mixes obese and obsess
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. obese runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against obsess's 6 (VCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between obese and obsess
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obese is /oʊˈbis/ while obsess is /əbˈsɛs/. 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 44521, 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/. obsess is at rank #32,948, tagged as averb, pronounced /əbˈsɛs/.
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 44521, this pair ranks #229,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obese vs obsess
Shared letters: beos. Private to "obese": -. Private to "obsess": -.
"obese" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "obsess" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "obese" for "obsess" ever safe?
Frequency check: "obese" vs "obsess" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "obese" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obsess" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,757 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obese" and "obsess" 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 #229,757 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.