Which to use
“obéis” is a verb and “obtus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #40,893
- “obéis” frequency rank
- #38,455
- “obtus” frequency rank
- 79348
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obéis | obtus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de obéir. | Qui est arrondi, émoussé au lieu d’être anguleux ou pointu. |
Where the eye mixes obéis and obtus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. obéis (VCVVC) and obtus (VCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between obéis and obtus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obéis is \ɔ.be.i\ while obtus is \ɔp.ty\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obéis is recorded at frequency rank #40,893, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔ.be.i\. obtus is at rank #38,455, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɔp.ty\.
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 79348, this pair ranks #23,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of obéis vs obtus
Shared letters: bos. Private to "obéis": ié. Private to "obtus": tu.
"obéis" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "obtus" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- obtus ← obbtus · obtsu · obttus · obtuss · otbus
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "obéis" and "obtus" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "obéis" or "obtus" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "obéis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obtus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obéis" and "obtus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obéis vs ordis". 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 #23,522 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.