Which to use
“neighbor” and “neighbour” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,987
- “neighbor” frequency rank
- #11,430
- “neighbour” frequency rank
- 17417
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | neighbor | neighbour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | US standard spelling of neighbour. | A person living on adjacent or nearby land; a person situated adjacently or nearby; anything (of the same type of thing as the subject) in an adjacent or nearby position. |
Where the eye mixes neighbor and neighbour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses neighbor with neighbour
A purely visual mix-up. neighbor (/ˈneɪ.bɚ/) and neighbour (/ˈneɪbə/) 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 17417, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
neighbor is recorded at frequency rank #5,987, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈneɪ.bɚ/. neighbour is at rank #11,430, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈneɪbə/.
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 17417, this pair ranks #451,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of neighbor vs neighbour
Shared letters: beghinor. Private to "neighbor": -. Private to "neighbour": u.
"neighbor" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCCVC · "neighbour" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "neighbor" and "neighbour" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "neighbor" vs "neighbour" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "neighbor" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "neighbour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #451,546 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "neighbor" and "neighbour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Neighbors vs neighbour". 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 #451,546 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.