yorevsyrWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#45,179
“yore” frequency rank
#9,838
“yr” frequency rank
55017
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature yore yr
Definition A time long past. Abbreviation of your.

Letter map: yore vs yr

Shared letters muted; letters that set yore and yr apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.

4 ch
yore
2 ch
yr

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: yore is anoun and yradeterminer. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55017, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yore is recorded at frequency rank #45,179, classified as anoun, pronounced /jɔː/. yr is at rank #9,838, tagged as adet.

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 55017, this pair ranks #136,758 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of yore vs yr

Shared letters: ry. Private to "yore": eo. Private to "yr": -.

"yore" · 4 letters · shape VVCV  ·  "yr" · 2 letters · shape VC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • yoreoyre · yoer · yorre · yroe · yyore

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "yore" and "yr" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "yore" is a noun and "yr" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "yore" or "yr"?
"yr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,838 in our English list, against #45,179 for "yore". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "yore" and "yr". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "yore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "yr" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #136,758 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "yore" and "yr" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yore vs yoyo". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list