odious vs odour, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“odious” is an adjective and “odour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,524
“odious” frequency rank: #30,518
“odour” frequency rank: 69042
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	odious	odour
Definition	Arousing or meriting strong dislike, aversion, or intense displeasure.	British standard spelling of odor.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set odious and odour apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

odious

5 ch

odour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: odious is anadjective and odouranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69042, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

odious is recorded at frequency rank #38,524, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈəʊ.di.əs/. odour is at rank #30,518, 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 69042, this pair ranks #56,242 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of odious vs odour

Shared letters: dou. Private to "odious": is. Private to "odour": r.

"odious" · 6 letters · shape VCVVVC · "odour" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

odious ← doious · oddious · odiosu · odiouss · odiuos · odoius · oidous
odour ← doour · oddour · odoru · odourr · oduor · oodur

Frequency comparison

odious#38,524

odour#30,518

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "odious" and "odour" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "odious" is an adjective and "odour" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "odious" or "odour"?

"odour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,518 in our English list, against #38,524 for "odious". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering odious vs odour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “odious”; for a noun, it's “odour”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “odious” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable