Which to use
“old” is an adjective and “our” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,277
- “old” frequency rank
- #14,418
- “our” frequency rank
- 25695
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | old | our |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Viejo, anciano. | Nuestro, nuestra. |
Where the eye mixes old and our
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between old and our
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: old is /ˈəʊld/ while our is /aʊə(ɹ)/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25695, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
old is recorded at frequency rank #11,277, classified as anadj, pronounced /ˈəʊld/. our is at rank #14,418, tagged as apron, pronounced /aʊə(ɹ)/.
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 25695, this pair ranks #235,246 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of old vs our
Shared letters: o. Private to "old": dl. Private to "our": ru.
"old" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "our" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "old" for "our" ever safe?
In ordinary Spanish text, does "old" or "our" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "old" and "our" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "old" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "our" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #235,246 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "old" and "our" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oirá vs our". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #235,246 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.