oubliervsoublisWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#1,204
“oublier” frequency rank
#32,099
“oublis” frequency rank
33303
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oublier oublis
Definition Perdre le souvenir de quelqu'un ou quelque chose. Pluriel de oubli.

Where the eye mixes oublier and oublis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. oublier runs 7 letters (VVCCVVC) against oublis's 6 (VVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
oublier
6 ch
oublis

Look-alike desk: oublier vs oublis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oublier is \u.bli.je\ while oublis is \u.bli\. 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 33303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oublier is recorded at frequency rank #1,204, classified as averb, pronounced \u.bli.je\. oublis is at rank #32,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced \u.bli\.

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 33303, this pair ranks #291,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of oublier vs oublis

Shared letters: bilou. Private to "oublier": er. Private to "oublis": s.

"oublier" · 7 letters · shape VVCCVVC  ·  "oublis" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • oublierobulier · oubblier · oubiler · oubleir · oublierr · oublire · oubllier · oulbier
  • oublisobulis · oubblis · oubils · oubliss · oubllis · oublsi · oulbis · uoblis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "oublier" for "oublis" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oublier" is a verb and "oublis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "oublier" or "oublis"?
"oublier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,204 in our French list, against #32,099 for "oublis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "oublier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "oublis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "oublier" and "oublis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "obéis vs oublis". 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 #291,543 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list