jonvsjourWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: jon is a preposition, jour is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jon” is a preposition and “jour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,345
“jon” frequency rank
#141
“jour” frequency rank
10486
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jon jour
Definition Par, sur, multiplié par, fois. Période de vingt-quatre heures, commençant généralement à minuit ; en certains lieux et à certaines époques, le jour commençait plutôt avec le lever ou le coucher du soleil.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set jon and jour apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
jon
4 ch
jour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

jon and jour form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10486, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jon is recorded at frequency rank #10,345, classified as aprep, pronounced \ʒɔn\. jour is at rank #141, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒuʁ\.

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 10486, this pair ranks #412,805 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

jon#10,345
jour#141

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jon" and "jour" be used interchangeably?
No, "jon" and "jour" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering jon vs jour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “jon”; for a noun, it's “jour”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “jon” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

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