Which to use
“orge” and “ourse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,435
- “orge” frequency rank
- #35,186
- “ourse” frequency rank
- 47621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | orge | ourse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom donné à plusieurs plantes du genre Hordeum de la famille des Poacées (Poaceae), céréale à paille utilisée pour nourrir les animaux et caractérisée par un chaume noueux dont la fleur constitue un ensemble d’épis. | Femelle de l’ours. |
Where the eye mixes orge and ourse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses orge with ourse
A purely visual mix-up. orge (\ɔʁʒ\) 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 47621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
orge is recorded at frequency rank #12,435, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁʒ\. 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 47621, this pair ranks #185,496 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of orge vs ourse
Shared letters: eor. Private to "orge": g. Private to "ourse": su.
"orge" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "ourse" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "orge" for "ourse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "orge" or "ourse"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "orge" 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 #185,496 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "orge" 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 #185,496 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.