obéisvsobusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: obéis is a verb, obus is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“obéis” is a verb and “obus” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,893
“obéis” frequency rank
#10,757
“obus” frequency rank
51650
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obéis obus
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de obéir. Projectile creux, en forme de cylindre terminé par un cône, rempli de matière explosive.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set obéis and obus apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
obéis
4 ch
obus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obéis is \ɔ.be.i\ while obus is \ɔ.by\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51650, 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\. obus is at rank #10,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.by\.

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 51650, this pair ranks #153,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of obéis vs obus

Shared letters: bos. Private to "obéis": . Private to "obus": u.

"obéis" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "obus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obusbous · obbus · obsu · obuss · oubs

Frequency comparison

obéis#40,893
obus#10,757

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obéis" and "obus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "obéis" is a verb and "obus" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "obéis" or "obus"?
"obus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,757 in our French list, against #40,893 for "obéis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering obéis vs obus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “obéis”; for a noun, it's “obus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “obéis” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list