obligévsobligeaWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: obligé is a adjective, obligea is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“obligé” is an adjective and “obligea” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,780
“obligé” frequency rank
#42,493
“obligea” frequency rank
44273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature obligé obligea
Definition Qui est d’usage, dont on ne peut guère se dispenser ; obligatoire. Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de obliger.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set obligé and obligea apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
obligé
7 ch
obligea

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: obligé is anadjective and obligeaaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obligé is recorded at frequency rank #1,780, classified as anadj. obligea is at rank #42,493, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɔ.bli.ʒa\.

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 44273, this pair ranks #211,719 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of obligé vs obligea

Shared letters: bgilo. Private to "obligé": é. Private to "obligea": ae.

"obligé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "obligea" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • obligeaboligea · obbligea · obilgea · oblgiea · obliega · obligae · obliggea · oblligea

Frequency comparison

obligé#1,780
obligea#42,493

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obligé" and "obligea" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "obligé" is an adjective and "obligea" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "obligé" or "obligea"?
"obligé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,780 in our French list, against #42,493 for "obligea". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering obligé vs obligea

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “obligé”; for a verb, it's “obligea”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “obligé” 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