diff --git a/spacy/ml/staticvectors.py b/spacy/ml/staticvectors.py
index 2e85980a8..8ebdd3f61 100644
--- a/spacy/ml/staticvectors.py
+++ b/spacy/ml/staticvectors.py
@@ -45,9 +45,7 @@ def forward(
     if not token_count:
         return _handle_empty(model.ops, model.get_dim("nO"))
     vocab: Vocab = docs[0].vocab
-    key_attr: int = ORTH
-    if hasattr(vocab.vectors, "attr"):
-        key_attr = vocab.vectors.attr
+    key_attr: int = getattr(vocab.vectors, "attr", ORTH)
     keys = model.ops.flatten([cast(Ints1d, doc.to_array(key_attr)) for doc in docs])
     W = cast(Floats2d, model.ops.as_contig(model.get_param("W")))
     if vocab.vectors.mode == Mode.default:
diff --git a/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx b/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx
index caa949207..d3c084a36 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokens/doc.pyx
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ from ..lexeme cimport Lexeme, EMPTY_LEXEME
 from ..typedefs cimport attr_t, flags_t
 from ..attrs cimport attr_id_t
 from ..attrs cimport LENGTH, POS, LEMMA, TAG, MORPH, DEP, HEAD, SPACY, ENT_IOB
-from ..attrs cimport ENT_TYPE, ENT_ID, ENT_KB_ID, SENT_START, IDX, NORM
+from ..attrs cimport ENT_TYPE, ENT_ID, ENT_KB_ID, SENT_START, IDX, NORM, ORTH
 
 from ..attrs import intify_attr, IDS
 from ..compat import copy_reg, pickle
@@ -591,7 +591,7 @@ cdef class Doc:
         """
         if "similarity" in self.user_hooks:
             return self.user_hooks["similarity"](self, other)
-        attr = self.doc.vocab.vectors.attr
+        attr = getattr(self.vocab.vectors, "attr", ORTH)
         cdef Token this_token
         cdef Token other_token
         cdef Lexeme other_lex
diff --git a/spacy/tokens/span.pyx b/spacy/tokens/span.pyx
index fd17acd00..57aeb4a6a 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens/span.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokens/span.pyx
@@ -10,7 +10,7 @@ from .doc cimport token_by_start, token_by_end, get_token_attr, _get_lca_matrix
 from .token cimport Token
 from ..structs cimport TokenC, LexemeC
 from ..typedefs cimport flags_t, attr_t, hash_t
-from ..attrs cimport attr_id_t
+from ..attrs cimport attr_id_t, ORTH
 from ..parts_of_speech cimport univ_pos_t
 from ..attrs cimport *
 from ..lexeme cimport Lexeme
@@ -341,7 +341,7 @@ cdef class Span:
         """
         if "similarity" in self.doc.user_span_hooks:
             return self.doc.user_span_hooks["similarity"](self, other)
-        attr = self.doc.vocab.vectors.attr
+        attr = getattr(self.doc.vocab.vectors, "attr", ORTH)
         cdef Token this_token
         cdef Token other_token
         cdef Lexeme other_lex
diff --git a/spacy/tokens/token.pyx b/spacy/tokens/token.pyx
index 311364476..b909bf622 100644
--- a/spacy/tokens/token.pyx
+++ b/spacy/tokens/token.pyx
@@ -13,7 +13,7 @@ from ..lexeme cimport Lexeme
 from ..attrs cimport IS_ALPHA, IS_ASCII, IS_DIGIT, IS_LOWER, IS_PUNCT, IS_SPACE
 from ..attrs cimport IS_BRACKET, IS_QUOTE, IS_LEFT_PUNCT, IS_RIGHT_PUNCT
 from ..attrs cimport IS_TITLE, IS_UPPER, IS_CURRENCY, IS_STOP
-from ..attrs cimport LIKE_URL, LIKE_NUM, LIKE_EMAIL
+from ..attrs cimport LIKE_URL, LIKE_NUM, LIKE_EMAIL, ORTH
 from ..symbols cimport conj
 from .morphanalysis cimport MorphAnalysis
 from .doc cimport set_children_from_heads
@@ -197,7 +197,7 @@ cdef class Token:
         """
         if "similarity" in self.doc.user_token_hooks:
             return self.doc.user_token_hooks["similarity"](self, other)
-        attr = self.doc.vocab.vectors.attr
+        attr = getattr(self.doc.vocab.vectors, "attr", ORTH)
         cdef Token this_token = self
         cdef Token other_token
         cdef Lexeme other_lex