pomvspourConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#46,919
“pom” frequency rank
#7,799
“pour” frequency rank
54718
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pom pour
Definition Obstbaum eingießen, einschenken

Where the eye mixes pom and pour

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

3 ch
pom
4 ch
pour

Visual trap between pom and pour

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pom is [pom] 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 54718, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pom is recorded at frequency rank #46,919, classified as anoun, pronounced [pom]. 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 54718, this pair ranks #1,007,861 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pom vs pour

Shared letters: op. Private to "pom": m. Private to "pour": ru.

"pom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pouropur · poru · pourr · ppour · puor

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pom" and "pour" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pom" is a noun and "pour" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary German text, does "pom" or "pour" show up more?
"pour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,799 in our German list, against #46,919 for "pom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "pom" 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 #1,007,861 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pom" and "pour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PMS vs pom". 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 #1,007,861 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