ouivsourWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#44,386
“oui” frequency rank
#76
“our” frequency rank
44462
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature oui our
Definition Synonym of yes. Belonging to us, excluding the person(s) being addressed (exclusive our).

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set oui and our apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
oui
3 ch
our

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oui is /wiː/ while our is /ˈaʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “oui” becomes r in “our”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44462, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

oui is recorded at frequency rank #44,386, classified as anintj, pronounced /wiː/. 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 44462, this pair ranks #230,326 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of oui vs our

Shared letters: ou. Private to "oui": i. Private to "our": r.

"oui" · 3 letters · shape VVV  ·  "our" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequency comparison

oui#44,386
our#76

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "oui" and "our" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "oui" is an intj and "our" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "oui" or "our"?
"our" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #76 in our English list, against #44,386 for "oui". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering oui vs our

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list