oba

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"oba" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“oba” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #40,364) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#40,364
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A king of a Yoruba polity.

Corpus desk

Index EN-oba · oba · English

oba · rank #40,364 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #40,364
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH NWS

Nearest frequency peer: NWS (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbours of confusable “oba”

Peers at similar corpus weight, separate from look-alike pairs below

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “oba” against nearest ranked English headwords, not a reprint of the confusable-pair desk.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

oba vs of
33% similar
oba vs on
33% similar
oba vs or
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for oba
PropertyValue
Headwordoba
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters3
Frequency rank#40,364
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “oba”

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right).obalands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “NWS” (#40,363), “obstinate” (#40,365), “Nuttall” (#40,362). Among 1,431 “O” headwords, “oba” is #40,364. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for oba is neighbouring look-alikes ("of", "on", …), not just typos; it is anoun. Frequency #40,364 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Gloss: "A king of a Yoruba polity.".

No generated misspelling entries exist for oba in our index, since its letter sequence doesn't invite the usual edit-distance slips. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "of", "on", "or", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Yoruba ọba. The correct English form is oba, spelled O-B-A.

Definition

  1. 1
    A king of a Yoruba polity.

Etymology

From Yoruba ọba.

This word in other languages

obá(Português)

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

How do you spell "oba"?
"oba" is spelled O-B-A.
What does "oba" mean?
As a noun, "oba" means: A king of a Yoruba polity.
What words are commonly confused with "oba"?
"oba" is commonly confused with "of", "on", "or". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "oba"?
From Yoruba ọba. See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "oba", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

NWS#40,363muh#40,352MRT#40,351PnP#40,396

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list