Which to use
“Orr” is a name and “ours” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,450
- “Orr” frequency rank
- #5,527
- “ours” frequency rank
- 25977
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Orr | ours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A Scottish surname. | That or those belonging to us. |
Where the eye mixes Orr and ours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Orr with ours
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Orr is /ɔɹ/ while ours is /ˈaʊəz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25977, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Orr is recorded at frequency rank #20,450, classified as aname, pronounced /ɔɹ/. ours is at rank #5,527, tagged as apron, pronounced /ˈaʊəz/.
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 25977, this pair ranks #390,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Orr vs ours
Shared letters: or. Private to "Orr": -. Private to "ours": su.
"Orr" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "ours" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ours ← orus · ourrs · ourss · ousr · uors
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Orr" for "ours" ever safe?
Frequency check: "Orr" vs "ours" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Orr" and "ours" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Orr" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,157 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Orr" and "ours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "omi vs Orr". 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 #390,157 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.