Which to use
“per” is a preposition and “pour” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #673
- “per” frequency rank
- #7,799
- “pour” frequency rank
- 8472
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | per | pour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | mittels | eingießen, einschenken |
Where the eye mixes per and pour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between per and pour
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: per is [pɛʁ] while pour is [pɔː]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8472, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
per is recorded at frequency rank #673, classified as aprep, pronounced [pɛʁ]. pour is at rank #7,799, tagged as averb, pronounced [pɔː].
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 8472, this pair ranks #1,984,132 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of per vs pour
Shared letters: pr. Private to "per": e. Private to "pour": ou.
"per" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "pour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pour ← opur · poru · pourr · ppour · puor
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "per" and "pour" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary German text, does "per" or "pour" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "per" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #1,984,132 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "per" and "pour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pau vs pour". 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 #1,984,132 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.