JodvsjourWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Jod” and “jour” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#30,628
“Jod” frequency rank
#29,647
“jour” frequency rank
60275
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Jod jour
Definition chemisches Element mit der Ordnungszahl 53, das zur Gruppe der Halogene gehört Tag

Where the eye mixes Jod and jour

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. Jod runs 3 letters (CVC) against jour's 4 (CVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
Jod
4 ch
jour

Why the eye confuses Jod with jour

A purely visual mix-up. Jod ([joːt]) and jour ([ʒuʁ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Jod is recorded at frequency rank #30,628, classified as anoun, pronounced [joːt]. jour is at rank #29,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ʒuʁ].

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 60275, this pair ranks #793,034 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Jod vs jour

Shared letters: jo. Private to "Jod": d. Private to "jour": ru.

"Jod" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "jour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jour ← jjour · joru · jourr · juor · ojur

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "Jod" and "jour" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently ([joːt] versus [ʒuʁ]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "Jod" vs "jour" - which ranks higher?
"jour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,647 in our German list, against #30,628 for "Jod". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Jod" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #793,034 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Jod" and "jour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jn vs Jod". 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 #793,034 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list