obedient
/əˈbiːdɪənt/
"obedient" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obedient” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,754 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #22,754
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or instructions of those in authority; biddable.
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 | obedient |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /əˈbiːdɪənt/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #22,754 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obedient” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for obedient is 8 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /əˈbiːdɪənt/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,754 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or instructions of those in authority; biddable.".
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for obedient, with forms such as "boedient", "obbedient", and "obdeient". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "obedience", 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 obedient, from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”). The correct English form is obedient, spelled O-B-E-D-I-E-N-T.
Definition
- 1Willing to comply with the commands, orders, or instructions of those in authority; biddable.
Etymology
From Middle English obedient, from Old French obedient, from Latin oboediēns, present active participle of oboediō (“obey”).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: boedient,obbedient,obdeient,obeddient,obedeint,obediennt,obedientt,obedietn,obedinet,obeident,oebdient
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obedient - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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 "obedient"?
What does "obedient" mean?
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Using “obedient”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-E-D-I-E-N-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbiːdɪənt/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “obedience” - see the side-by-side comparison. obedient vs obedience
- 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.