“Honorable” or “Honourable”—What's the difference?

Usage by country

Where each spelling is used

Of the 12 countries below, 6 prefer “honorable” and 5 prefer “honourable”. Usage levels are out of 100; the more common spelling in each country is in bold.

Usage level out of 100 (if available).
Country	honorable	honourable	Preference
United States	96	4	“honorable”
United Kingdom	28	72	“honourable”
India	60	40	“honorable”
Philippines	96	4	“honorable”
Canada	49	51	“honourable”
Australia	33	67	“honourable”
Liberia	100	0	“honorable”
Ireland	42	58	“honourable”
New Zealand	33	67	“honourable”
Jamaica	57	43	“honorable”
Trinidad & Tobago	50	50	No clear preference
Guyana	65	35	“honorable”

Usage

Examples in context

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

“honorable”

…Lucien Walker received his second Honorable Mention for offense.
…raised by a family of honorable and hardworking Mexican migrant farmers.
…a full-time starter and an honorable mention All-Big Ten selection at…
HONORABLE MENTION: Illinois: Jeff Allen, Jonathan…
…… First-team all-conference and an honorable mention All-American …
…a reference to both the honorable feats of Lieutenant Lassen and…
He was named honorable mention all-Big Ten.
…produced Sir Francis Drake, His Honorable life's commendation, and his Tragical…
…award and finally replaced the Honorable Mention.
The Honorable Julia Maria Cristina Mildred Stonor,…

“honourable”

The Right Honourable Cranley Gordon Douglas Onslow, ,…
The Honourable E. L. Wetmore (1907–1912)
…become the Most Ancient and Honourable Society of Free and Accepted…
The Honourable Percy H. Maguire (1962–1974)
In reply the Right Honourable E. G. Stanley wrote:
…Cristina Mildred Stonor, now The Honourable Julia Camoys Stonor (b.
…A Battery and B Battery, Honourable Artillery Company.
His Excellency the Honourable Thomas Lachlan MacDonald – high…
…to the Honorific Prefix "The Honourable" and the Post Nominal Letters…
…and president (1843–54) of the Honourable Artillery Company and a director…

Examples are Wikipedia snippets under the CC ShareAlike 3.0 license.

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