Which to use
“ou” is a noun and “our” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,099
- “ou” frequency rank
- #76
- “our” frequency rank
- 10175
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ou | our |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A probably extinct species of Hawaiian honeycreeper, Psittirostra psittacea. | Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive our). |
Where the eye mixes ou and our
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ou and our
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ou is /ˈəʊ.uː/ while our is /ˈaʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ou” sits inside “our”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10175, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ou is recorded at frequency rank #10,099, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈəʊ.uː/. 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 10175, this pair ranks #493,606 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ou vs our
Shared letters: ou. Private to "ou": -. Private to "our": r.
"ou" · 2 letters · shape VV · "our" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ou" and "our" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ou" or "our"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ou" 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 #493,606 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ou" and "our" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "omi vs ou". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #493,606 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.