Which to use
“ocre” and “ourse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,110
- “ocre” frequency rank
- #35,186
- “ourse” frequency rank
- 61296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ocre | ourse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Argile friable de couleur jaune, rouge ou brune suivant les oxydes, en particulier l’hydroxyde de fer et parfois d’oxyde de manganèse, qu’elle contient. | Femelle de l’ours. |
Where the eye mixes ocre and ourse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses ocre with ourse
A purely visual mix-up. ocre (\ɔkʁ\) and ourse (\uʁs\) 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 61296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ocre is recorded at frequency rank #26,110, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔkʁ\. ourse is at rank #35,186, tagged as anoun, pronounced \uʁs\.
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 61296, this pair ranks #93,014 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ocre vs ourse
Shared letters: eor. Private to "ocre": c. Private to "ourse": su.
"ocre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ourse" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ocre" and "ourse" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ocre" or "ourse"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ocre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ourse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #93,014 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ocre" and "ourse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ourse vs oust". 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
Confusion rank #93,014 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.