peuvspourWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: peu is a noun, pour is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“peu” is a noun and “pour” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#40,134
“peu” frequency rank
#7,799
“pour” frequency rank
47933
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature peu pour
Definition der Fuß; der unterste Abschnitt der Beine der Wirbeltiere, bei den Primaten und dem Menschen nur der beiden hinteren/unteren Extremitäten eingießen, einschenken

Where the eye mixes peu and pour

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

3 ch
peu
4 ch
pour

Look-alike desk: peu vs pour

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: peu is [pɛw] 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

peu is recorded at frequency rank #40,134, classified as anoun, pronounced [pɛw]. 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 47933, this pair ranks #1,266,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of peu vs pour

Shared letters: pu. Private to "peu": e. Private to "pour": or.

"peu" · 3 letters · shape CVV  ·  "pour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pouropur · poru · pourr · ppour · puor

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "peu" and "pour" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "peu" is a noun and "pour" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "peu" vs "pour" - which ranks higher?
"pour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,799 in our German list, against #40,134 for "peu". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "peu" 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 #1,266,794 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "peu" and "pour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "peu vs PMS". 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 #1,266,794 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list