obstacle

/\ɔp.stakl\/ noun

Letters

8 characters

Frequency Rank

#6,858

in French word usage

Misspellings

12

tracked variants

Confusables

1

similar word pairs

obstacle is aFrenchnoun. It means: Ce qui empêche de passer. Pronounced \ɔp.stakl\. It ranks #6,858 in French word frequency. Often confused with obstacles.

Key facts for obstacle
PropertyValue
Headwordobstacle
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\ɔp.stakl\
Letters8
Frequency rank#6,858
Misspellings tracked12
Confusable pairs1
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency rank visualization

Position of obstacle in French word frequency (lower rank = more common)

Source: Wordfreq corpus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The French entry for obstacle is 8 letters long, classified as anoun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \ɔp.stakl\. Corpus data places it at rank #6,858 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text.Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our Hunspell-derived misspelling index lists 12 documented wrong-spelling variants for obstacle, with forms such as "bostacle", "obbstacle", and "obsatcle". Each variant represents a distinct typo pattern that appears often enough in corpora to be worth flagging, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution.It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "obstacles", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so spelling patterns must be inferred from the word's phoneme-to-grapheme mapping rather than from a documented borrowing chain. For readers arriving here from a spelling check, the authoritative guidance is: the correct French form is obstacle, spelled O-B-S-T-A-C-L-E, and any other sequence of those letters, regardless of how natural it feels, is a misspelling in standard orthography.

Definition

  1. 1
    Ce qui empêche de passer.
  2. 2
    Sorte de barrière que l'on installe sur le parcours de certaines courses.
  3. 3
    Ce qui empêche qu’une personne n’arrive à son but, ne parvienne à ses fins ou qu’une chose ne se fasse, ne réussisse.

Synonyms

This word in other languages

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bostacle,obbstacle,obsatcle,obsstacle,obstaccle,obstacel,obstaclle,obstalce,obstcale,obsttacle,obtsacle,osbtacle

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

Relative frequency of common misspelling types for obstacle

Misspelling Variants of "obstacle"

bostacle8obbstacle9obsatcle8obsstacle9obstaccle9obstacel8obstaclle9obstalce8
Misspelling Variants of "obstacle"

Frequency rank: #6,858 in French

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "obstacle"?
"obstacle" is spelled O-B-S-T-A-C-L-E. The IPA pronunciation is \ɔp.stakl\.
What does "obstacle" mean?
As a noun, "obstacle" means: Ce qui empêche de passer.
What words are commonly confused with "obstacle"?
"obstacle" is commonly confused with "obstacles". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "obstacle"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "obstacle" is \ɔp.stakl\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "obstacle" come from?
"obstacle" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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.

Nearby French words

Other entries that begin with the letter O in our French index:

Explore PlainSpell

Data Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Frequency data from Wordfreq. Misspellings derived from Hunspell dictionaries.