favour

noun

"favour" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“favour” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #4,235 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#4,235
frequency rank, English
6
letters
8
tracked misspellings
10
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - British standard spelling of favor.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

favour vs four
67% similar
favour vs flour
67% similar
favour vs flavor
67% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for favour
PropertyValue
Headwordfavour
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters6
Frequency rank#4,235
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs10
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “favour” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). favour lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for favour is 6 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #4,235 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "British standard spelling of favor.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for favour, with forms such as "afvour", "faovur", and "favoru". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 10 confusable-pair relationships, "four", "flour", "flavor", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

No borrowing history is documented for this entry, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is favour, spelled F-A-V-O-U-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    British standard spelling of favor.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: afvour,faovur,favoru,favourr,favuor,favvour,ffavour,fvaour

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of favour - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

afvour2faovur2favoru2favourr1favuor2favvour1ffavour1fvaour2
Edit distance from "favour"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "favour"?
"favour" is spelled F-A-V-O-U-R.
What does "favour" mean?
As a noun, "favour" means: British standard spelling of favor.
What words are commonly confused with "favour"?
"favour" is commonly confused with "four", "flour", "flavor". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What language does "favour" come from?
"favour" is a English word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “favour”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is F-A-V-O-U-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “four” - see the side-by-side comparison. favour vs four
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list