jouisvsjoursWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#36,019
“jouis” frequency rank
#183
“jours” frequency rank
36202
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature jouis jours
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de jouir. Pluriel de jour.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set jouis and jours apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
jouis
5 ch
jours

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jouis is \ʒwi\ while jours is \ʒuʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - i in “jouis” becomes r in “jours”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36202, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

jouis is recorded at frequency rank #36,019, classified as averb, pronounced \ʒwi\. 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 36202, this pair ranks #271,287 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of jouis vs jours

Shared letters: josu. Private to "jouis": i. Private to "jours": r.

"jouis" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "jours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • jouisjjouis · joius · jouiss · jousi · juois · ojuis
  • joursjjours · jorus · jourrs · jourss · jousr · juors · ojurs

Frequency comparison

jouis#36,019
jours#183

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "jouis" and "jours" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "jouis" is a verb and "jours" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "jouis" or "jours"?
"jours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #183 in our French list, against #36,019 for "jouis". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering jouis vs jours

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “jouis”; for a noun, it's “jours”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “jouis” 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