favoursvsflavourWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“favours” and “flavour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#19,084
“favours” frequency rank
#10,695
“flavour” frequency rank
29779
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature favours flavour
Definition plural of favour British standard spelling of flavor.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set favours and flavour apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
favours
7 ch
flavour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

favours and flavour are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29779, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

favours is recorded at frequency rank #19,084, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈfeɪ.vɚz/. flavour is at rank #10,695, tagged as anoun.

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 29779, this pair ranks #360,091 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of favours vs flavour

Shared letters: aforuv. Private to "favours": s. Private to "flavour": l.

"favours" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC  ·  "flavour" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • favoursafvours · faovurs · favorus · favourrs · favourss · favousr · favuors · favvours
  • flavourfalvour · fflavour · flaovur · flavoru · flavourr · flavuor · flavvour · fllavour

Frequency comparison

favours#19,084
flavour#10,695

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "favours" and "flavour" be used interchangeably?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "favours" or "flavour"?
"flavour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,695 in our English list, against #19,084 for "favours". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering favours vs flavour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “favours” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list