you're vs yours, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“you're” is a contraction and “yours” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#140
“you're” frequency rank: #1,849
“yours” frequency rank: 1989
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	you're	yours
Definition	You are.	That or those belonging to you; the possessive second-person singular pronoun used without a following noun.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set you're and yours apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch

you're

5 ch

yours

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: you're is /jɔː(ɹ)/ while yours is /jɔː(ɹ)z/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (contraction vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1989, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

you're is recorded at frequency rank #140, classified as acontraction, pronounced /jɔː(ɹ)/. yours is at rank #1,849, tagged as apron, pronounced /jɔː(ɹ)z/.

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 1989, this pair ranks #526,116 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of you're vs yours

Shared letters: oruy. Private to "you're": e. Private to "yours": s.

"you're" · 5 letters · shape VVVCV · "yours" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

yours ← oyurs · yorus · yourrs · yourss · yousr · yuors · yyours

Frequency comparison

you're#140

yours#1,849

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "you're" and "yours" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "you're" is a contraction and "yours" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "you're" or "yours"?

"you're" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #140 in our English list, against #1,849 for "yours". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering you're vs yours

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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