OCD

adj

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

The verdict

“OCD” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #19,922) as an adjective. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#19,922
frequency rank, English
1,431
“O” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Exhibiting an obsessive tendency.

Corpus desk

Index EN-ocd · OCD · English

OCD · rank #19,922 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #19,922
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,431
  • PHOTO-FINISH occult

Nearest frequency peer: occult (-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 “OCD”

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

corpus weight

What this shows Bars place “OCD” 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).

OCD vs of
0% similar
OCD vs on
0% similar
OCD vs or
0% similar

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

Key facts for OCD
PropertyValue
HeadwordOCD
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechAdjective
Letters3
Frequency rank#19,922
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Corpus rank beside confusables of “OCD”

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

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

The axis is logarithmic, with each marked tick roughly ten times rarer than the last. Same rarity band neighbours include “occult” (#19,921), “Olympian” (#19,923), “O'Connell” (#19,920). Among 1,431 “O” headwords, “OCD” is #19,922. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for OCD is neighbouring look-alikes ("of", "on", …), not just typos; it is anadjective. Frequency #19,922 among 1,431 “O” headwords. Gloss: "Exhibiting an obsessive tendency.".

The misspelling generator found no plausible variants for OCD, 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.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct English form is OCD, spelled O-C-D.

Definition

  1. 1
    Exhibiting an obsessive tendency.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how OCD appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Three years and you still have your ex's things? Lizzy, I knew you were uptight and OCD, and often humorless.
  2. So I wanted to get us some simple takeout but of course, I started obsessing over what you'd be in the mood for. Hence, we have the OCD buffet of sushi, steak, and pasta.

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 "OCD"?
"OCD" is spelled O-C-D.
What does "OCD" mean?
As an adjective, "OCD" means: Exhibiting an obsessive tendency.
What words are commonly confused with "OCD"?
"OCD" 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 language does "OCD" come from?
"OCD" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
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 "OCD", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list