Which to use
“obey” is a verb and “okey” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,219
- “obey” frequency rank
- #40,821
- “okey” frequency rank
- 50040
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obey | okey |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. | A Turkish game in which players attempt to collect certain groups of tiles. |
Letter map: obey vs okey
Shared letters muted; letters that set obey and okey apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: obey is averb and okeyanoun. On the page they differ by a single letter - b in “obey” becomes k in “okey”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50040, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obey is recorded at frequency rank #9,219, classified as averb, pronounced /əʊˈbeɪ/. okey is at rank #40,821, tagged as anoun.
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 50040, this pair ranks #177,936 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obey vs okey
Shared letters: eoy. Private to "obey": b. Private to "okey": k.
"obey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "okey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV