obstacle
\ɔp.stakl\
The verdict
“obstacle” has 12 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #6,858. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #6,858
- frequency rank, French
- 1,642
- “O” headwords
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 1
- confusable pair
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Ce qui empêche de passer.
Corpus desk
Index FR-obstacle · obstacle · French
obstacle · rank #6,858 · 12 variants · 1 confusable
- FREQ-COMMON #6,858
- LEN-LONG 8 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-LOW 1 pairs
- VAR-MID 12 variants
- BOOK-MID 1,642
- PHOTO-FINISH obliger
Nearest frequency peer: obliger (-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.
Frequency neighbourhood for “obstacle”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- méchants
méchants
93,146 corpus weight
- obliger
obliger
93,144 corpus weight
- obstacle
obstacle
93,143 corpus weight
- Oise
Oise
93,142 corpus weight
- ong
ong
93,141 corpus weight
- opérer
opérer
93,140 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “obstacle” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | obstacle |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \ɔp.stakl\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #6,858 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 1 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Où “obstacle” se place dans la fréquence du français
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 12 spelling variants around obstacle (IPA \ɔp.stakl\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #6,858 among 1,642 “O” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for obstacle, with forms such as "bostacle", "obbstacle", and "obsatcle". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 1 confusable-pair relationship, "obstacles", 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 its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is obstacle, spelled O-B-S-T-A-C-L-E.
Definition
- 1Ce qui empêche de passer.
- 2Sorte de barrière que l'on installe sur le parcours de certaines courses.
- 3Ce qui empêche qu’une personne n’arrive à son but, ne parvienne à ses fins ou qu’une chose ne se fasse, ne réussisse.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how obstacle appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
L’assaillant trouvait un premier obstacle formé d’une barrière de bois couverte d’un appentis.
Dans les plaines subatlantiques, les seuls obstacles naturels étaient les cours d’eau.
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
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of obstacle - 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 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "obstacle"?
What does "obstacle" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "obstacle"?
How do you pronounce "obstacle"?
What language does "obstacle" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "obstacle", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (12 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "obstacle". Here's where to go from here.
- This headword has one recorded confusable pair with "obstacles". View pair
- 12 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #6,858 among French headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more French words in the "O" letter cohort. O–Z browse
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.