yours vs yous, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“yours” and “yous” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,849
“yours” frequency rank: #31,419
“yous” frequency rank: 33268
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch

yours

4 ch

yous

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. yours (/jɔː(ɹ)z/) and yous (/juːz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33268, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

yours is recorded at frequency rank #1,849, classified as apron, pronounced /jɔː(ɹ)z/. yous is at rank #31,419, tagged as apron, pronounced /juːz/.

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 33268, this pair ranks #330,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of yours vs yous

Shared letters: osuy. Private to "yours": r. Private to "yous": -.

"yours" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC · "yous" · 4 letters · shape VVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

yours ← oyurs · yorus · yourrs · yourss · yousr · yuors · yyours
yous ← oyus · yosu · youss · yuos · yyous

Frequency comparison

yours#1,849

yous#31,419

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "yours" and "yous" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/jɔː(ɹ)z/ versus /juːz/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "yours" or "yous"?

"yours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,849 in our English list, against #31,419 for "yous". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering yours vs yous

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “yours” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable