yovsyoreWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: yo is a intj, yore is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“yo” is an intj and “yore” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,346
“yo” frequency rank
#45,179
“yore” frequency rank
48525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature yo yore
Definition A greeting similar to hi. A time long past.

Where the eye mixes yo and yore

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

2 ch
yo
4 ch
yore

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: yo is /jəʊ/ while yore is /jɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “yo” sits inside “yore”, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yo is recorded at frequency rank #3,346, classified as anintj, pronounced /jəʊ/. yore is at rank #45,179, tagged as anoun, pronounced /jɔː/.

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 48525, this pair ranks #192,236 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of yo vs yore

Shared letters: oy. Private to "yo": -. Private to "yore": er.

"yo" · 2 letters · shape VV  ·  "yore" · 4 letters · shape VVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • yoreoyre · yoer · yorre · yroe · yyore

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "yo" and "yore" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "yo" is an intj and "yore" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "yo" or "yore"?
"yo" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,346 in our English list, against #45,179 for "yore". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list