Which to use
“obey” and “owe” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,219
- “obey” frequency rank
- #5,820
- “owe” frequency rank
- 15039
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obey | owe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. | To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone. |
Where the eye mixes obey and owe
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. obey (/əʊˈbeɪ/) and owe (/əʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15039, 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/. owe is at rank #5,820, tagged as averb, pronounced /əʊ/.
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 15039, this pair ranks #466,426 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of obey vs owe
Shared letters: eo. Private to "obey": by. Private to "owe": w.
"obey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "owe" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- obey ← boey · obbey · obeyy · obye · oeby