josvsjoursWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: jos is a pronoun, jours is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“jos” is a pronoun and “jours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,219
“jos” frequency rank
#183
“jours” frequency rank
28402
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jos jours
Definition Abréviation de jo les. Pluriel de jour.

Letter map: jos vs jours

Shared letters muted; letters that set jos and jours apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
jos
5 ch
jours

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: jos is apronoun and joursanoun. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28402, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jos is recorded at frequency rank #28,219, classified as apron. jours is at rank #183, 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 28402, this pair ranks #323,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of jos vs jours

Shared letters: jos. Private to "jos": -. Private to "jours": ru.

"jos" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "jours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • joursjjours · jorus · jourrs · jourss · jousr · juors · ojurs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jos" and "jours" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jos" is a pronoun and "jours" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "jos" or "jours"?
"jours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #183 in our French list, against #28,219 for "jos". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "jos" and "jours". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "jos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "jours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "jos" and "jours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jor vs jos". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list