vormvsvousConfusable pair

Quick tell: vorm is a abbrev, vous is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“vorm” is an abbrev and “vous” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,751
“vorm” frequency rank
#22,563
“vous” frequency rank
27314
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vorm vous
Definition vor dem ihr

Where the eye mixes vorm and vous

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

4 ch
vorm
4 ch
vous

Look-alike desk: vorm vs vous

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vorm is [foːɐ̯m] while vous is [vu]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (abbrev vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27314, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vorm is recorded at frequency rank #4,751, classified as anabbrev, pronounced [foːɐ̯m]. vous is at rank #22,563, tagged as apron, pronounced [vu].

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 27314, this pair ranks #1,803,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vorm vs vous

Shared letters: ov. Private to "vorm": mr. Private to "vous": su.

"vorm" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "vous" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vormovrm · vomr · vormm · vorrm · vrom · vvorm
  • vousovus · vosu · vouss · vuos · vvous

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "vorm" for "vous" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vorm" is an abbrev and "vous" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vorm" vs "vous" - which ranks higher?
"vorm" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,751 in our German list, against #22,563 for "vous". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "vorm" and "vous" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vorm" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vous" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #1,803,769 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vorm" and "vous" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "voip vs vous". 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 #1,803,769 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