jovsjusTell them apart

Which to use

“jo” and “jus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#3,932
“jo” frequency rank
#3,768
“jus” frequency rank
7700
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jo jus
Definition (Nivernais) Coq. Solution aqueuse obtenue à partir d’un produit solide par pression, coction, infusion ou tout autre moyen.

Where the eye mixes jo and jus

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

2 ch
jo
3 ch
jus

Why the eye confuses jo with jus

A purely visual mix-up. jo (\ʒɔ\) and jus (\ʒy\) 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 7700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jo is recorded at frequency rank #3,932, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒɔ\. jus is at rank #3,768, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒy\.

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 7700, this pair ranks #422,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of jo vs jus

Shared letters: j. Private to "jo": o. Private to "jus": su.

"jo" · 2 letters · shape CV  ·  "jus" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "jo" for "jus" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ʒɔ\ versus \ʒy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "jo" or "jus" show up more?
"jus" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,768 in our French list, against #3,932 for "jo". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "jo" and "jus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "jo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #422,402 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jo" and "jus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jo vs jor". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #422,402 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list