Which to use
“oui” is an adverb and “ours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #132
- “oui” frequency rank
- #4,358
- “ours” frequency rank
- 4490
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oui | ours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mot utilisé pour apporter une réponse affirmative ou marquer l'accord sur une proposition. Il s’emploie aussi au début d’une phrase qui ne répond pas à une question exprimée ou au cours d’une phrase, pour marquer ou accentuer le caractère affirmatif de cette phrase. Il s’emploie dans le discours direct en réponse à une interrogation. Il est alors seul ou joint à des adverbes qui renforcent l’affirmation comme certes, vraiment, etc. | Plantigrade, carnassier ou omnivore, à fourrure épaisse, de la famille des ursidés. |
Where the eye mixes oui and ours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oui is \wi\ while ours is \uʁs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4490, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oui is recorded at frequency rank #132, classified as anadv, pronounced \wi\. 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 4490, this pair ranks #431,472 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of oui vs ours
Shared letters: ou. Private to "oui": i. Private to "ours": rs.
"oui" · 3 letters · shape VVV · "ours" · 4 letters · shape VVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ours ← orus · ourrs · ourss · ousr · uors