obese
/oʊˈbis/
"obese" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obese” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #11,573 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #11,573
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build; or, having a body mass index over 30 kg/m².
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 | obese |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /oʊˈbis/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #11,573 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obese” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for obese is 5 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /oʊˈbis/. Corpus data places it at rank #11,573 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build; or, having a body mass index over 30 kg/m².".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for obese, with forms such as "boese", "obbese", and "obees". 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 11 confusable-pair relationships, "obs", "ones", "obey", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Latin obēsus, derived from obedō (“I devour, eat away”), from ob (“away”) + edō (“I eat”). Displaced native Old English oferfǣtt (literally “overfat”). The correct English form is obese, spelled O-B-E-S-E.
Definition
- 1Extremely overweight, especially: weighing more than 20% (for men) or 25% (for women) over their conventionally ideal weight determined by height and build; or, having a body mass index over 30 kg/m².
Etymology
From Latin obēsus, derived from obedō (“I devour, eat away”), from ob (“away”) + edō (“I eat”). Displaced native Old English oferfǣtt (literally “overfat”).
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: boese,obbese,obees,obesse,obsee,oebse
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obese - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.
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 “obese”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-E-S-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /oʊˈbis/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “obs” - see the side-by-side comparison. obese vs obs
- 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.