vomvsvoorConfusable pair

Quick tell: vom is a abbrev, voor is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vom” is an abbrev and “voor” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#88
“vom” frequency rank
#47,106
“voor” frequency rank
47194
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vom voor
Definition von dem gibt eine zeitliche/örtliche Reihenfolge an

Where the eye mixes vom and voor

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

3 ch
vom
4 ch
voor

Look-alike desk: vom vs voor

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vom is [fɔm] while voor is [voːr]. 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 (abbrev vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47194, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vom is recorded at frequency rank #88, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [fɔm]. voor is at rank #47,106, tagged as aprep, pronounced [voːr].

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 47194, this pair ranks #1,292,988 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of vom vs voor

Shared letters: ov. Private to "vom": m. Private to "voor": r.

"vom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "voor" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • voorovor · voorr · voro · vvoor

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vom" for "voor" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vom" is an abbrev and "voor" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vom" vs "voor" - which ranks higher?
"vom" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #88 in our German list, against #47,106 for "voor". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vom" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "voor" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,292,988 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vom" and "voor" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voip vs voor". 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 #1,292,988 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