obedience
/ə(ʊ)ˈbiːdɪəns/
"obedience" is a 9-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obedience” has 13 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #15,012. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #15,012
- frequency rank, English
- 1,431
- “O” headwords
- 13
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - The quality of being obedient.
Corpus desk
Index EN-obedience · obedience · English
obedience · rank #15,012 · 13 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-MID #15,012
- LEN-LONG 9 letters
- VOW-5 5 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-HIGH 13 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,431
- PHOTO-FINISH nuisance
Nearest frequency peer: nuisance (-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 neighbourhood for “obedience”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- Nicky
Nicky
84,992 corpus weight
- nuisance
nuisance
84,990 corpus weight
- obedience
obedience
84,989 corpus weight
- objected
objected
84,988 corpus weight
- obligated
obligated
84,987 corpus weight
- organise
organise
84,986 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “obedience” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | obedience |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːdɪəns/ |
| Letters | 9 |
| Frequency rank | #15,012 |
| Misspellings tracked | 13 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obedience” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 13 spelling variants around obedience (IPA /ə(ʊ)ˈbiːdɪəns/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #15,012 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 13 likely wrong-spelling variants for obedience, with forms such as "boedience", "obbedience", and "obdeience". 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 1 confusable-pair relationship, "obedient", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English obedience, from Anglo-Norman obedience, from Old French obedience (modern French obédience), from Latin oboedientia. Displaced native Old English hīersumnes (compare modern English hearsomeness). Cognate with obeisance. The correct English form is obedience, spelled O-B-E-D-I-E-N-C-E.
Definition
- 1The quality of being obedient.
- 2The collective body of persons subject to any particular authority.
- 3A written instruction from the superior of an order to those under him.
- 4Any official position under an abbot's jurisdiction.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how obedience appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Obedience is essential in any army.
February 24, 1823, Thomas Jefferson, letter to Mr. Edward Everett Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.
Etymology
From Middle English obedience, from Anglo-Norman obedience, from Old French obedience (modern French obédience), from Latin oboedientia. Displaced native Old English hīersumnes (compare modern English hearsomeness). Cognate with obeisance.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- boedience
- obbedience
- obdeience
- obeddience
- obedeince
- obediance
- obediecne
- obediencce
- obedienec
- obediennce
- obedinece
- obeidence
- oebdience
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obedience - 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.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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What does "obedience" mean?
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "obedience", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 9 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (13 here; floor ≥5).
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.