Which to use
“obeyed” and “opened” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,312
- “obeyed” frequency rank
- #1,490
- “opened” frequency rank
- 29802
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obeyed | opened |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of obey | simple past and past participle of open |
Where the eye mixes obeyed and opened
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between obeyed and opened
A purely visual mix-up. obeyed (/əʊˈbeɪd/) and opened (/ˈoʊpənd/) 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 29802, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obeyed is recorded at frequency rank #28,312, classified as averb, pronounced /əʊˈbeɪd/. opened is at rank #1,490, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈoʊpənd/.
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 29802, this pair ranks #359,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obeyed vs opened
Shared letters: deo. Private to "obeyed": by. Private to "opened": np.
"obeyed" · 6 letters · shape VCVVVC · "opened" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "obeyed" and "opened" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary English text, does "obeyed" or "opened" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "obeyed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "opened" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,884 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obeyed" and "opened" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obese vs obeyed". 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 #359,884 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.