orbvsoursConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#44,077
“orb” frequency rank
#4,358
“ours” frequency rank
48435
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature orb ours
Definition Orbe. Plantigrade, carnassier ou omnivore, à fourrure épaisse, de la famille des ursidés.

Where the eye mixes orb and ours

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. orb runs 3 letters (VCC) against ours's 4 (VVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch
orb
4 ch
ours

Look-alike desk: orb vs ours

A purely visual mix-up. orb (\ɔɹb\) and ours (\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 48435, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

orb is recorded at frequency rank #44,077, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔɹb\. ours is at rank #4,358, 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 48435, this pair ranks #178,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of orb vs ours

Shared letters: or. Private to "orb": b. Private to "ours": su.

"orb" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "ours" · 4 letters · shape VVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ours ← orus · ourrs · ourss · ousr · uors

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "orb" and "ours" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɔɹb\ versus \uʁs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "orb" vs "ours" - which ranks higher?
"ours" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,358 in our French list, against #44,077 for "orb". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "orb" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #178,967 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "orb" and "ours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "och vs orb". 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 #178,967 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