Which to use
“favor” and “favours” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,576
- “favor” frequency rank
- #19,084
- “favours” frequency rank
- 21660
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | favor | favours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A kind or helpful deed; an instance of voluntarily assisting (someone). | plural of favour |
Where the eye mixes favor and favours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. favor runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against favours's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between favor and favours
A purely visual mix-up. favor (/ˈfeɪ.və/) and favours (/ˈfeɪ.vɚz/) 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 21660, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
favor is recorded at frequency rank #2,576, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfeɪ.və/. favours is at rank #19,084, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfeɪ.vɚz/.
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 21660, this pair ranks #422,303 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of favor vs favours
Shared letters: aforv. Private to "favor": -. Private to "favours": su.
"favor" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "favours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "favor" for "favours" ever safe?
Which is more common, "favor" or "favours"?
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 "favor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "favours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,303 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "favor" and "favours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fader vs favor". 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 #422,303 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.