Which to use
“obey” and “owed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,219
- “obey” frequency rank
- #8,838
- “owed” frequency rank
- 18057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obey | owed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To do as ordered by (a person, institution etc), to act according to the bidding of. | simple past and past participle of owe |
Where the eye mixes obey and owed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. obey (/əʊˈbeɪ/) and owed (/oʊd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18057, 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/. owed is at rank #8,838, tagged as averb, pronounced /oʊd/.
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 18057, this pair ranks #447,392 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of obey vs owed
Shared letters: eo. Private to "obey": by. Private to "owed": dw.
"obey" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "owed" · 4 letters · shape VCVC