Which to use
“oui” is an intj and “own” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #44,386
- “oui” frequency rank
- #178
- “own” frequency rank
- 44564
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oui | own |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Synonym of yes. | Belonging to; possessed; acquired; proper to; property of; titled to; held in one's name; under/using the name of. Often marks a possessive determiner as reflexive, referring back to the subject of the clause or sentence. |
Where the eye mixes oui and own
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Look-alike desk: oui vs own
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oui is /wiː/ while own is /əʊn/. 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 (intj vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44564, 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/. own is at rank #178, tagged as anadj, pronounced /əʊn/.
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 44564, this pair ranks #229,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of oui vs own
Shared letters: o. Private to "oui": iu. Private to "own": nw.
"oui" · 3 letters · shape VVV · "own" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "oui" and "own" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "oui" or "own" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "oui" and "own" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "oui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "own" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,349 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oui" and "own" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "omi vs oui". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #229,349 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.