Favorable or favourable?
In American English write favorable; in British and Commonwealth English, favourable. favorable is an adjective meaning “US standard spelling of favourable”; favourable is an adjective meaning “Apt to win favour; pleasing”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) favorable is about 2.1 times as common as favourable.
What is the difference between favorable and favourable?
| favorable | favourable | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective | adjective |
| Meaning | USUS standard spelling of favourable | UKApt to win favour; pleasing UKExpressing or indicating favour or goodwill; approving, encouraging |
| Example | none recorded | The candidate wearing the business suit made a favourable impression |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfeɪ.vɚ.əbl/ | /ˈfeɪv(ə)ɹəbəl/ |
| Region | US | UK |
| In writing | 7.1 times per million words | 3.4 times per million words |
Sources: favorable and favourable in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of favorable and favourable
favorable
- 1
USUS standard spelling of favourable
favourable
- 1
UKApt to win favour; pleasing
The candidate wearing the business suit made a favourable impression
- 2
UKExpressing or indicating favour or goodwill; approving, encouraging
The proposal has received many favourable comments
- 3
UKUseful or helpful
We made quick progress, due to favourable winds
- 4
UKConvenient or at a suitable time; opportune
The rain stopped at a favourable time for our tennis match
- 5
UKAuspicious or lucky
She says that she was born under a favourable star
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, favorable or favourable?
favorable appears 7.1 times per million words; favourable 3.4 times per million words.
favorable 7.1 times per million wordsfavourable 3.4 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search favorable vs favourable?
“favorable vs favourable” is searched about 30 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“favourable vs favorable”, “favorable or favourable”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.