Favorite or favourite?
In American English write favorite; in British and Commonwealth English, favourite. favorite is an adjective meaning “US standard spelling of favourite”; favourite is an adjective meaning “Most-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) favorite is about 2.5 times as common as favourite.
What is the difference between favorite and favourite?
| favorite | favourite | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | adjective, noun, verb | adjective, noun, verb |
| Meaning | USUS standard spelling of favourite | CommonwealthIrelandUKMost-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.) CommonwealthIrelandUKLiked, cherished CommonwealthIrelandUKA person or thing who enjoys special regard or favour |
| Example | none recorded | This is my favourite day! |
| Forms | none | favouritemost |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfeɪv.ɹɪt/ | /ˈfeɪv.ɹɪt/ |
| Region | US | Commonwealth, Ireland, UK |
| In writing | 93 times per million words | 37 times per million words |
Sources: favorite and favourite 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 favorite and favourite
favorite
- 1
USUS standard spelling of favourite
- 2
USUS standard spelling of favourite
- 3
USUS standard spelling of favourite
favourite
- 1
CommonwealthIrelandUKMost-liked. (In other words, [person]'s favorite [noun] = the [noun] that [person] likes the most.)
This is my favourite day!
- 2
CommonwealthIrelandUKA person or thing who enjoys special regard or favour
The teacher's favourite always went first
- 3
CommonwealthIrelandUKTo favour
- 4
CommonwealthIrelandUKLiked, cherished
- 5
CommonwealthIrelandUKA person who is preferred or trusted above all others
- 6
CommonwealthIrelandUKTo bookmark
- 7
CommonwealthIrelandUKA contestant or competitor thought most likely to win
You were my favourite to win the spelling competition
- 8
CommonwealthIrelandUKTo add to one's list of favourite items on a website that allows users to compile such lists
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, favorite or favourite?
favorite appears 93 times per million words; favourite 37 times per million words.
favorite 93 times per million wordsfavourite 37 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 favorite vs favourite?
“favorite vs favourite” is searched about 1,600 times a month on Google and 50 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“favourite vs favorite”, “favorite or favourite”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.