ourvsouvreWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,528
“our” frequency rank
#1,369
“ouvre” frequency rank
10897
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature our ouvre
Definition Notre, nos Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de ouvrir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set our and ouvre apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
our
5 ch
ouvre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: our is \aʊɚ\ while ouvre is \uvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10897, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

our is recorded at frequency rank #9,528, classified as adet, pronounced \aʊɚ\. ouvre is at rank #1,369, tagged as averb, pronounced \uvʁ\.

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 10897, this pair ranks #411,246 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of our vs ouvre

Shared letters: oru. Private to "our": -. Private to "ouvre": ev.

"our" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "ouvre" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ouvreourve · ouver · ouvrre · ouvvre · ovure · uovre

Frequency comparison

our#9,528
ouvre#1,369

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "our" and "ouvre" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "our" is a determiner and "ouvre" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "our" or "ouvre"?
"ouvre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,369 in our French list, against #9,528 for "our". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering our vs ouvre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a determiner, it's “our”; for a verb, it's “ouvre”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “our” 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