Which to use
“favors” and “favours” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,546
- “favors” frequency rank
- #19,084
- “favours” frequency rank
- 29630
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | favors | favours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | plural of favor | plural of favour |
Same sound, different letters: favors vs favours
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. favors runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against favours's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - favors and favours
This is the hard kind. favors and favours are pronounced identically (/ˈfeɪvɚz/) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
favors is recorded at frequency rank #10,546, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfeɪvɚz/. 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 29630, this pair ranks #361,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of favors vs favours
Shared letters: aforsv. Private to "favors": -. Private to "favours": u.
"favors" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "favours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "favors" and "favours" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "favors" vs "favours" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "favors" / "favours". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "favors" 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 #361,372 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "favors" and "favours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fars vs favors". 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 #361,372 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.