osmvsourWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: osm is a noun, our is a determiner, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“osm” is a noun and “our” is a determiner - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,435
“osm” frequency rank
#9,528
“our” frequency rank
50963
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature osm our
Definition Osmium. Notre, nos

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set osm and our apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
osm
3 ch
our

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: osm is \ɔsm̥\ while our is \aʊɚ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs determiner), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50963, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

osm is recorded at frequency rank #41,435, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔsm̥\. our is at rank #9,528, tagged as adet, pronounced \aʊɚ\.

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 50963, this pair ranks #158,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of osm vs our

Shared letters: o. Private to "osm": ms. Private to "our": ru.

"osm" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "our" · 3 letters · shape VVC

Frequency comparison

osm#41,435
our#9,528

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "osm" and "our" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "osm" is a noun and "our" a determiner, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "osm" or "our"?
"our" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,528 in our French list, against #41,435 for "osm". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering osm vs our

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “osm”; for a determiner, it's “our”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “osm” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list