obituary
/əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/
"obituary" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“obituary” has 11 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #16,983. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #16,983
- frequency rank, English
- 15,494
- “O” headwords
- 11
- tracked misspellings
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A brief notice of a person's death, especially one published in a newspaper or other publication; also (obsolete), the section of a newspaper where notices of deaths are published.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | obituary |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #16,983 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “obituary” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 11 spelling variants around obituary (IPA /əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #16,983 among 15,494 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for obituary, with forms such as "boituary", "obbituary", and "obitaury". 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. This headword has no recorded confusable partner, since its spelling is unusual enough that it doesn't cluster with a lookalike.
Etymologically, the entry records: PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach… The correct English form is obituary, spelled O-B-I-T-U-A-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A brief notice of a person's death, especially one published in a newspaper or other publication; also (obsolete), the section of a newspaper where notices of deaths are published.
- 2A brief biography of a person (especially one who is well-known) who has recently died, usually describing their life and achievements, particularly in the form of an article in a news publication or an item in a news broadcast.
- 3An announcement or description of the end of something.
- 4A register of deaths, especially one maintained by a religious institution; a necrology.
Etymology
PIE word *h₁epi Learned borrowing from Medieval Latin obituārius (“obituary”) + English -ary (suffix denoting something relating to another thing or used in a place). Obituārius is derived from Latin obitus (“act of approaching or going toward, an approach; act of going down, setting; of the sun: sunset; death; destruction, downfall, ruin”) + -ārius (suffix forming adjectives and agent nouns); while obitus is a noun use of the perfect passive participle of obeō (“to go to meet, go towards; (figurative) to die, pass away, perish; (astronomy) to set”), from ob- (prefix meaning ‘toward’) + eō (“to go, move”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h₁ey- (“to go”).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: boituary,obbituary,obitaury,obittuary,obituarry,obituaryy,obituayr,obituray,obiutary,obtiuary,oibtuary
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obituary - 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 "obituary"?
What does "obituary" mean?
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Using “obituary”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is O-B-I-T-U-A-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /əˈbɪt͡ʃʊ(ə)ɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Same frequency band
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.