obligation

\ɔ.bli.ɡa.sjɔ̃\

/\ɔ.bli.ɡa.sjɔ̃\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“obligation” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #2,687. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#2,687
frequency rank, French
1,642
“O” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
1
confusable pair

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Lien moral qui impose quelque devoir concernant la religion, la morale ou la vie civile.

Corpus desk

Index FR-obligation · obligation · French

obligation · rank #2,687 · 14 variants · 1 confusable

  • FREQ-COMMON #2,687
  • LEN-MEGA 10 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,642
  • PHOTO-FINISH niveaux

Nearest frequency peer: niveaux (-1 rank slots)

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.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « obligation »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « obligation » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

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).

obligation vs obligations
91% similar

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

Key facts for obligation
PropertyValue
Headwordobligation
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔ.bli.ɡa.sjɔ̃\
Letters10
Frequency rank#2,687
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « obligation »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.obligationse place ici:

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

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « niveaux » (#2,686), « officier » (#2,688), « morale » (#2,685). Parmi 1,642 lemmes en « O », « obligation » est au #2,687. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around obligation (IPA \ɔ.bli.ɡa.sjɔ̃\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #2,687 among 1,642 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 5 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for obligation, with forms such as "boligation", "obbligation", and "obilgation". 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, "obligations", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. The correct French form is obligation, spelled O-B-L-I-G-A-T-I-O-N.

Definition

  1. 1
    Lien moral qui impose quelque devoir concernant la religion, la morale ou la vie civile.
  2. 2
    Lien de droit qui oblige à donner, à faire ou à ne pas faire une chose.
  3. 3
    Acte, fait par-devant notaire ou sous seing privé, par lequel on s’oblige à payer une certaine somme, à donner ou à faire telle chose dans un temps fixé.
  4. 4
    Titres productifs d’intérêt et remboursables dans un temps limité, que le gouvernement, des compagnies, des villes émettent pour se procurer de l’argent.
  5. 5
    Lien de reconnaissance envers les personnes qui nous ont rendu des services plus ou moins importants.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Puisqu’il ne faut jamais mentir, alors il faut mentir de temps en temps : l’obligation d’être véridique à tout prix contraint à mentir quand la vérité elle-même est plus fallacieuse que le mensonge.
  2. Sa générosité n’est pas faiblesse ; son obligeance ne dépasse pas les obligations normales et naturelles ; aucune arrière-pensée en son comportement.

Synonyms

astreintechargecommandementcontrainteconventioncorvéedevoirengagementexigenceimpératifnécessitérègleresponsabilitéloi

This word in other languages

obligation(English)obligación(Español)Verpflichtung(Deutsch)compromisso(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • boligation
  • obbligation
  • obilgation
  • oblgiation
  • obliagtion
  • obligaiton
  • obligatino
  • obligationn
  • obligatoin
  • obligattion
  • obliggation
  • obligtaion
  • oblligation
  • olbigation

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obligation - 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.

boligation2obbligation1obilgation2oblgiation2obliagtion2obligaiton2obligatino2obligationn1
Edit distance from "obligation"

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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "obligation"?
"obligation" is spelled O-B-L-I-G-A-T-I-O-N. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔ.bli.ɡa.sjɔ̃\.
What does "obligation" mean?
As a noun, "obligation" means: Lien moral qui impose quelque devoir concernant la religion, la morale ou la vie civile.
What words are commonly confused with "obligation"?
"obligation" is commonly confused with "obligations". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "obligation"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "obligation" is \ɔ.bli.ɡa.sjɔ̃\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "obligation" come from?
"obligation" is a French 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 French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "obligation", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 10 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

déterminer#2,671efficacité#2,712secondaire#2,738ordinateur#2,631

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

principes14 variantsélecteurs14 variantseuropéennes14 variantspoursuivre14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list