obeyvsoleWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: obey is a verb, ole is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“obey” is a verb and “ole” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,219
“obey” frequency rank
#10,736
“ole” frequency rank
19955
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obey ole
Definition To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. An interjection used to stir up excitement.

Where the eye mixes obey and ole

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
obey
3 ch
ole

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obey is /əʊˈbeɪ/ while ole is /oʊˈleɪ/. 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 (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19955, 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/. ole is at rank #10,736, tagged as anintj, pronounced /oʊˈleɪ/.

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 19955, this pair ranks #434,536 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of obey vs ole

Shared letters: eo. Private to "obey": by. Private to "ole": l.

"obey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV  ·  "ole" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obeyboey · obbey · obeyy · obye · oeby

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obey" and "ole" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "obey" is a verb and "ole" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "obey" or "ole"?
"obey" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,219 in our English list, against #10,736 for "ole". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list