Which to use
“obese” is an adjective and “ores” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,573
- “obese” frequency rank
- #30,161
- “ores” frequency rank
- 41734
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obese | ores |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | plural of ore |
Where the eye mixes obese and ores
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. obese runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against ores's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: obese vs ores
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obese is /oʊˈbis/ while ores is /ɔːz/. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41734, 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/. ores is at rank #30,161, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ɔːz/.
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 41734, this pair ranks #255,583 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obese vs ores
Shared letters: eos. Private to "obese": b. Private to "ores": r.
"obese" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "ores" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "obese" for "ores" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "obese" or "ores" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "ores" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #255,583 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obese" and "ores" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ores vs OWS". 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 #255,583 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.