adobe
/əˈdəʊ.bi/
"adobe" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“adobe” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #14,259 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #14,259
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 18
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - An unburnt brick dried in the sun.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | adobe |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈdəʊ.bi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #14,259 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 18 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “adobe” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for adobe is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈdəʊ.bi/. Corpus data places it at rank #14,259 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for adobe, with forms such as "adboe", "addobe", and "adobbe". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "aloe", "alone", "adopt", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Spanish adobe, from Arabic اَلطُّوب (aṭ-ṭūb), from Sahidic Coptic ⲧⲱⲃⲉ (tōbe, “brick”), from Demotic Egyptian (tb, “brick”), from Egyptian Db-b-t:O39 (ḏbt, “brick, block, ingot”). The correct English form is adobe, spelled A-D-O-B-E.
Definition
- 1An unburnt brick dried in the sun.
- 2The earth from which such bricks are made.
- 3A house made of adobe brick.
Etymology
From Spanish adobe, from Arabic اَلطُّوب (aṭ-ṭūb), from Sahidic Coptic ⲧⲱⲃⲉ (tōbe, “brick”), from Demotic Egyptian (tb, “brick”), from Egyptian Db-b-t:O39 (ḏbt, “brick, block, ingot”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: adboe,addobe,adobbe,adoeb,aodbe,daobe
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of adobe - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “adobe”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-D-O-B-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈdəʊ.bi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “aloe” - see the side-by-side comparison. adobe vs aloe
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.