Which to use
“ours” and “ourse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,358
- “ours” frequency rank
- #35,186
- “ourse” frequency rank
- 39544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ours | ourse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plantigrade, carnassier ou omnivore, à fourrure épaisse, de la famille des ursidés. | Femelle de l’ours. |
Same sound, different letters: ours vs ourse
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - ours and ourse
This is the hard kind. ours and ourse are pronounced identically (\uʁs\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ours” sits inside “ourse”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ours is recorded at frequency rank #4,358, classified as anoun, pronounced \uʁs\. 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 39544, this pair ranks #247,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ours vs ourse
Shared letters: orsu. Private to "ours": -. Private to "ourse": e.
"ours" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "ourse" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ours" and "ourse" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ours" vs "ourse" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"ours" and "ourse" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "ours" 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 #247,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ours" 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 #247,172 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.