Which to use
“o” is a character and “our” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #790
- “o” frequency rank
- #76
- “our” frequency rank
- 866
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | o | our |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The fifteenth letter of the English alphabet, called o and written in the Latin script. | Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive our). |
Where the eye mixes o and our
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between o and our
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: o is /ˈəʊ/ while our is /ˈaʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “o” sits inside “our”, and the parts of speech differ too (character vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
o is recorded at frequency rank #790, classified as acharacter, pronounced /ˈəʊ/. our is at rank #76, tagged as adet, pronounced /ˈaʊə(ɹ)/.
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 866, this pair ranks #528,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of o vs our
Shared letters: o. Private to "o": -. Private to "our": ru.
"o" · 1 letters · shape V · "our" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "o" and "our" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "o" or "our"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "o" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "our" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #528,607 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "o" and "our" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "o vs omi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #528,607 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.