Which to use
“jour” and “joy” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,330
- “jour” frequency rank
- #2,738
- “joy” frequency rank
- 32068
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jour | joy |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abbreviation of journeyman, e.g. jour printer. | A feeling of extreme happiness or cheerfulness, especially related to the acquisition or expectation of something good. |
Where the eye mixes jour and joy
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between jour and joy
A purely visual mix-up. jour (/ˈd͡ʒɝ/) and joy (/d͡ʒɔɪ/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jour is recorded at frequency rank #29,330, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈd͡ʒɝ/. joy is at rank #2,738, tagged as anoun, pronounced /d͡ʒɔɪ/.
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 32068, this pair ranks #340,904 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of jour vs joy
Shared letters: jo. Private to "jour": ru. Private to "joy": y.
"jour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "joy" · 3 letters · shape CVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- jour ← jjour · joru · jourr · juor · ojur
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "jour" for "joy" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "jour" or "joy" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "jour" and "joy" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "jour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "joy" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #340,904 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jour" and "joy" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jour vs Jove". 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 #340,904 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.