Which to use
“obus” and “os” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,757
- “obus” frequency rank
- #2,632
- “os” frequency rank
- 13389
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | obus | os |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Projectile creux, en forme de cylindre terminé par un cône, rempli de matière explosive. | Élément du squelette des animaux vertébrés, fait de ce tissu dur et calcifié. |
Where the eye mixes obus and os
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between obus and os
A purely visual mix-up. obus (\ɔ.by\) and os (\ɔs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13389, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
obus is recorded at frequency rank #10,757, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.by\. os is at rank #2,632, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔs\.
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 13389, this pair ranks #401,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of obus vs os
Shared letters: os. Private to "obus": bu. Private to "os": -.
"obus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "os" · 2 letters · shape VC
Known mistypes of this pair
- obus ← bous · obbus · obsu · obuss · oubs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "obus" and "os" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "obus" or "os" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "obus" and "os" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "obus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "os" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "obus" and "os" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obus vs oust". 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 #401,213 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.