English homophones
favorite/favourite
"favorite" (#1,139 written frequency) beats "favourite" (#2,624) in this 2-word /ˈfeɪv.ɹɪt/ cluster. Size rank #133 of 1,007 English groups.
Data vintage
Frequency splits the cluster
These 2 spellings keep the same /ˈfeɪv.ɹɪt/ reading, but written frequency splits them hard: "favorite" leads at #1,139, with "favourite" trailing at #2,624.
Spelling pairs in this cluster
- Shared stem "favo" then splits - "favorite" (8 letters) vs "favourite" (9).
Orthographic DNA of this cluster
Shared letters across favorite, favourite: aefiortv. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.
favorite
8 letters · 4 vowels · shape CVCVCVCV
Inventory aefiortv · no private letters vs siblings
favourite
9 letters · 5 vowels · shape CVCVVCVCV
Inventory aefiortuv · private u
Pick the spelling from the meaning
- Write "favorite" when you mean: US standard spelling of favourite.
- Write "favourite" when you mean: Most-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.)
Known mistypes of these spellings
Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.
Each spelling
Nearby English homophone groups
What to do next
You've reviewed the 2-spelling cluster (favorite, favourite). Here's where to go from here.
- "favorite" is the most frequent headword in this 2-spelling cluster (rank #1,139 in English). Full entry
- Among English homophone groups, a cluster of 2 spellings ranks #133 by size (1,007 groups in this vintage). Corpus statistics
- Explore a nearby 2-spelling cluster: femme · fem. Nearby cluster
- Each spelling in "favorite, favourite" has its own headword page with definition, IPA, and misspelling variants. First entry
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.