Which to use
“gâter” and “gober” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,031
- “gâter” frequency rank
- #33,714
- “gober” frequency rank
- 59745
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gâter | gober |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Endommager, mettre en mauvais état, abîmer en donnant une mauvaise forme ou autrement. | Avaler en aspirant, sans mâcher (en particulier : une huître, un œuf cru). |
Where the eye mixes gâter and gober
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. gâter and gober follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses gâter with gober
A purely visual mix-up. gâter (\ɡɑ.te\) and gober (\ɡɔ.be\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59745, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gâter is recorded at frequency rank #26,031, classified as averb, pronounced \ɡɑ.te\. gober is at rank #33,714, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡɔ.be\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 59745, this pair ranks #101,409 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gâter vs gober
Shared letters: egr. Private to "gâter": tâ. Private to "gober": bo.
"gâter" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "gober" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- gober ← gboer · ggober · gobber · goberr · gobre · goebr · ogber
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gâter" for "gober" ever safe?
Which is more common, "gâter" or "gober"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gâter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gober" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #101,409 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gâter" and "gober" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gober vs Gruber". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #101,409 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.