Which to use
“obligées” is an adjective and “obligent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #23,628
- “obligées” frequency rank
- #16,957
- “obligent” frequency rank
- 40585
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obligées | obligent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de obligé. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de obliger. |
Where the eye mixes obligées and obligent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. obligées (VCCVCVVC) and obligent (VCCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: obligées vs obligent
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: obligées is \ɔ.bli.ʒe\ while obligent is \ɔ.bliʒ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obligées is recorded at frequency rank #23,628, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɔ.bli.ʒe\. obligent is at rank #16,957, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɔ.bliʒ\.
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 40585, this pair ranks #239,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of obligées vs obligent
Shared letters: begilo. Private to "obligées": sé. Private to "obligent": nt.
"obligées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "obligent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- obligent ← boligent · obbligent · obilgent · oblgient · obliegnt · obligennt · obligentt · obligetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "obligées" and "obligent" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "obligées" or "obligent" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "obligées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "obligent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #239,419 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obligées" and "obligent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obligea vs obligées". 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 #239,419 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.