Which to use
“pooled” and “poured” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,792
- “pooled” frequency rank
- #9,381
- “poured” frequency rank
- 39173
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pooled | poured |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of pool | simple past and past participle of pour |
Where the eye mixes pooled and poured
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses pooled with poured
A purely visual mix-up. pooled (/puːld/) 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 39173, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pooled is recorded at frequency rank #29,792, classified as averb, pronounced /puːld/. 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 39173, this pair ranks #279,166 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pooled vs poured
Shared letters: deop. Private to "pooled": l. Private to "poured": ru.
"pooled" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "poured" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pooled" for "poured" ever safe?
Which is more common, "pooled" or "poured"?
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 "pooled" 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 #279,166 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pooled" and "poured" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pooled vs pooper". 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 #279,166 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.