“Favorites” or “Favourites”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 6 prefer “favorites” and 4 prefer “favourites”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	favorites	favourites	Preference
United States	98	2	“favorites”
United Kingdom	25	75	“favourites”
India	64	36	“favorites”
Philippines	95	5	“favorites”
Canada	68	32	“favorites”
Australia	27	73	“favourites”
Liberia	0	0	Not enough data
Ireland	28	72	“favourites”
New Zealand	33	67	“favourites”
Jamaica	75	25	“favorites”
Trinidad & Tobago	74	26	“favorites”
Guyana	0	0	Not enough data

Usage

Examples in context

Real sentences for each spelling. Hover an example to copy it.

“favorites”

…the game as 7.5 point favorites, but never had the lead…
…and were regarded as heavy favorites by the press.
…Fantasy games, players would find favorites among the characters, and was…
…(d. 1488), one of the favorites of King Charles VII, by…
…songs, along with his personal favorites from other artists.
It includes concert favorites such as "Nun Fight", "Cruel,…
…Liliom was one of Lang's favorites out of all his films.
…cookbook included the New England favorites chowder, salt cod, Johnny-Cake and…
…and released his first album, "Favorites For A Lifetime," consisting of…
…Han emperors and their imperial favorites, guised in the criticism of…

“favourites”

…Maiden England" along with "other favourites".
Pre-Race Favourites
Recognised as one of the favourites, his chance of winning the…
…and the United Kingdom as favourites, with Luxembourg some way behind.
…and Torbjörn Jansson, as heavy favourites, failed to win the major…
…2015-16 Conference South season as favourites, the Hawks were relegated on…
…opposed Richard II's policies and favourites.
…Light Programme (originally as Children's Favourites) since 1954.
…was one of the fan favourites when he was playing.
…radio programme, "Two Way Family Favourites" (original played by Andre Kostelanetz…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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