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 eye mixes yours and yous
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. yours runs 5 letters (VVVCC) against yous's 4 (VVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses yours with yous
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "yours" and "yous" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "yours" vs "yous" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "yours" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "yous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #330,921 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "yours" and "yous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Yau vs yous". 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
Confusion rank #330,921 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.