Which to use
“paused” and “poured” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,689
- “paused” frequency rank
- #9,381
- “poured” frequency rank
- 27070
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paused | poured |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pause | simple past and past participle of pour |
Where the eye mixes paused and poured
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between paused and poured
A purely visual mix-up. paused (/pɔːzd/) and poured (/pɔːd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27070, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paused is recorded at frequency rank #17,689, classified as averb, pronounced /pɔːzd/. poured is at rank #9,381, tagged as averb, pronounced /pɔːd/.
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 27070, this pair ranks #381,860 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of paused vs poured
Shared letters: depu. Private to "paused": as. Private to "poured": or.
"paused" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poured" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "paused" and "poured" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "paused" or "poured" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "paused" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "poured" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #381,860 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paused" and "poured" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paused vs pruned". 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 #381,860 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.