Un mot réservé est une chaîne de caractères avec une signification prédéfinie dans un programme COBOL. Chacun de ces mots réservés ont donc un rôle à jouer dans un code.

Le tableau suivant identifie les mots réservés en COBOL et les mots à éviter car ils pourraient être réservés dans une future version COBOL.

S’ils sont utilisés comme noms définis par l’utilisateur, ces mots sont marqués d’un message de niveau S (erreur).

ACCEPT	DESCENDING	LENGTH	RF
ACCESS	DESTINATION	LESS	RH
ACTIVE-CLASS	DETAIL	LIMIT	RIGHT
ADD	DISABLE	LIMITS	ROUNDED
ADDRESS	DISPLAY	LINAGE	RUN
ADVANCING	DISPLAY-1	LINAGE-COUNTER	SAME
AFTER	DIVIDE	LINE	SCREEN
ALIGNED	DIVISION	LINE-COUNTER	SD
ALL	DOWN	LINES	SEARCH
ALLOCATE	DUPLICATES	LINKAGE	SECTION
ALPHABET	DYNAMIC	LOCAL-STORAGE	SECURITY
ALPHABETIC	EC	LOCALE	SEGMENT
ALPHABETIC-LOWER	EGCS	LOCK	SEGMENT-LIMIT
ALPHABETIC-UPPER	EGI	LOW-VALUE	SELECT
ALPHANUMERIC	EJECT	LOW-VALUES	SELF
ALPHANUMERIC-EDITED	ELSE	MEMORY	SEND
ALSO	EMI	MERGE	SENTENCE
ALTER	ENABLE	MESSAGE	SEPARATE
ALTERNATE	END	METHOD	SEQUENCE
AND	END-ACCEPT	METHOD-ID	SEQUENTIAL
ANY	END-ADD	MINUS	SERVICE
ANYCASE	END-CALL	MODE	SET
APPLY	END-COMPUTE	MODULES	SHARING
ARE	END-DELETE	MORE-LABELS	SHIFT-IN
AREA	END-DISPLAY	MOVE	SHIFT-OUT
AREAS	END-DIVIDE	MULTIPLE	SIGN
ASCENDING	END-EVALUATE	MULTIPLY	SIZE
ASSIGN	END-EXEC	NATIONAL	SKIP1
AT	END-IF	NATIONAL-EDITED	SKIP2
AUTHOR	END-INVOKE	NATIVE	SKIP3
B-AND	END-MULTIPLY	NEGATIVE	SORT
B-NOT	END-OF-PAGE	NESTED	SORT-CONTROL
B-OR	END-PERFORM	NEXT	SORT-CORE-SIZE
B-XOR	END-READ	NO	SORT-FILE-SIZE
BASED	END-RECEIVE	NOT	SORT-MERGE
BASIS	END-RETURN	NULL	SORT-MESSAGE
BEFORE	END-REWRITE	NULLS	SORT-MODE-SIZE
BEGINNING	END-SEARCH	NUMBER	SORT-RETURN
BINARY	END-START	NUMERIC	SOURCE
BINARY-CHAR	END-STRING	NUMERIC-EDITED	SOURCE-COMPUTER
BINARY-DOUBLE	END-SUBTRACT	OBJECT	SOURCES
BINARY-LONG	END-UNSTRING	OBJECT-COMPUTER	SPACE
BINARY-SHORT	END-WRITE	OBJECT-REFERENCE	SPACES
BIT	END-XML	OCCURS	SPECIAL-NAMES
BLANK	ENDING	OF	SQL
BLOCK	ENTER	OFF	SQLIMS
BOOLEAN	ENTRY	OMITTED	STANDARD
BOTTOM	ENVIRONMENT	ON	STANDARD-1
BY	EO	OPEN	STANDARD-2
CALL	EOP	OPTIONAL	START
CANCEL	EQUAL	OPTIONS	STATUS
CBL	ERROR	OR	STOP
CD	ESI	ORDER	STRING
CF	EVALUATE	ORGANIZATION	SUB-QUEUE-1
CH	EVERY	OTHER	SUB-QUEUE-2
CHARACTER	EXCEPTION	OUTPUT	SUB-QUEUE-3
CHARACTERS	EXCEPTION-OBJECT	OVERFLOW	SUBTRACT
CLASS	EXEC	OVERRIDE	SUM
CLASS-ID	EXECUTE	PACKED-DECIMAL	SUPER
CLOCK-UNITS	EXIT	PADDING	SUPPRESS
CLOSE	EXTEND	PAGE	SYMBOLIC
COBOL	EXTERNAL	PAGE-COUNTER	SYNC
CODE	FACTORY	PASSWORD	SYNCHRONIZED
CODE-SET	FALSE	PERFORM	SYSTEM-DEFAULT
COL	FD	PF	TABLE
COLLATING	FILE	PH	TALLY
COLS	FILE-CONTROL	PIC	TALLYING
COLUMN	FILLER	PICTURE	TAPE
COLUMNS	FINAL	PLUS	TERMINAL
COM-REG	FIRST	POINTER	TERMINATE
COMMA	FLOAT-EXTENDED	POSITION	TEST
COMMON	FLOAT-LONG	POSITIVE	TEXT
COMMUNICATION	FLOAT-SHORT	PRESENT	THAN
COMP	FOOTING	PRINTING	THEN
COMP-1	FOR	PROCEDURE	THROUGH
COMP-2	FORMAT	PROCEDURE-POINTER	THRU
COMP-3	FREE	PROCEDURES	TIME
COMP-4	FROM	PROCEED	TIMES
COMP-5	FUNCTION	PROCESSING	TITLE
COMPUTATIONAL	FUNCTION-ID	PROGRAM	TO
COMPUTATIONAL-1	FUNCTION-POINTER	PROGRAM-ID	TOP
COMPUTATIONAL-2	GENERATE	PROGRAM-POINTER	TRACE
COMPUTATIONAL-3	GET	PROPERTY	TRAILING
COMPUTATIONAL-4	GIVING	PROTOTYPE	TRUE
COMPUTATIONAL-5	GLOBAL	PURGE	TYPE
COMPUTE	GO	QUEUE	TYPEDEF
CONDITION	GOBACK	QUOTE	UNIT
CONFIGURATION	GREATER	QUOTES	UNIVERSAL
CONSTANT	GROUP	RAISE	UNLOCK
CONTAINS	GROUP-USAGE	RAISING	UNSTRING
CONTENT	HEADING	RANDOM	UNTIL
CONTINUE	HIGH-VALUE	RD	UP
CONTROL	HIGH-VALUES	READ	UPON
CONTROLS	I-O	READY	USAGE
CONVERTING	I-O-CONTROL	RECEIVE	USE
COPY	ID	RECORD	USER-DEFAULT
CORR	IDENTIFICATION	RECORDING	USING
CORRESPONDING	IF	RECORDS	VAL-STATUS
COUNT	IN	RECURSIVE	VALID
CRT	INDEX	REDEFINES	VALIDATE
CURRENCY	INDEXED	REEL	VALIDATE-STATUS
CURSOR	INDICATE	REFERENCE	VALUE
DATA	INHERITS	REFERENCES	VALUES
DATA-POINTER	INITIAL	RELATIVE	VARYING
DATE	INITIALIZE	RELEASE	WHEN
DATE-COMPILED	INITIATE	RELOAD	WHEN-COMPILED
DATE-WRITTEN	INPUT	REMAINDER	WITH
DAY	INPUT-OUTPUT	REMOVAL	WORDS
DAY-OF-WEEK	INSERT	RENAMES	WORKING-STORAGE
DBCS	INSPECT	REPLACE	WRITE
DE	INSTALLATION	REPLACING	WRITE-ONLY
DEBUG-CONTENTS	INTERFACE	REPORT	XML
DEBUG-ITEM	INTERFACE-ID	REPORTING	XML-CODE
DEBUG-LINE	INTO	REPORTS	XML-EVENT
DEBUG-NAME	INVALID	REPOSITORY	XML-INFORMATION
DEBUG-SUB-1	INVOKE	RERUN	XML-NAMESPACE
DEBUG-SUB-2	IS	RESERVE	XML-NAMESPACE-PREFIX
DEBUG-SUB-3	JNIENVPTR	RESET	XML-NNAMESPACE
DEBUGGING	JUST	RESUME	XML-NNAMESPACE-PREFIX
DECIMAL-POINT	JUSTIFIED	RETRY	XML-NTEXT
DECLARATIVES	KANJI	RETURN	XML-SCHEMA
DEFAULT	KEY	RETURN-CODE	XML-TEXT
DELETE	LABEL	RETURNING	ZERO
DELIMITED	LAST	REVERSED	ZEROES
DELIMITER	LEADING	REWIND	ZEROS
DEPENDING	LEFT	REWRITE