onevsourWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: one is a num, our is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“one” is a num and “our” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38
“one” frequency rank
#76
“our” frequency rank
114
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature one our
Definition The number represented by the Arabic numeral 1; the numerical value equal to that cardinal number. Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive our).

Where the eye mixes one and our

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
one
3 ch
our

Visual trap between one and our

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: one is /wʌn/ while our is /ˈaʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (num vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 114, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

one is recorded at frequency rank #38, classified as anum, pronounced /wʌn/. 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 114, this pair ranks #529,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of one vs our

Shared letters: o. Private to "one": en. Private to "our": ru.

"one" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "our" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "one" and "our" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "one" is a num and "our" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary English text, does "one" or "our" show up more?
"one" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38 in our English list, against #76 for "our". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "one" 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 #529,864 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "one" and "our" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "omi vs our". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #529,864 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list