pour vs pur, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#6,085
“pour” frequency rank: #34,243
“pur” frequency rank: 40328
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	pour	pur
Definition	To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it.	Dated form of purr (“low murmuring sound as of a cat”).

Letter map: pour vs pur

Shared letters muted; letters that set pour and pur apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch

pour

3 ch

pur

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pour is averb and puranoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40328, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pour is recorded at frequency rank #6,085, classified as averb, pronounced /pɔː/. pur is at rank #34,243, tagged as anoun.

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 40328, this pair ranks #268,605 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pour vs pur

Shared letters: pru. Private to "pour": o. Private to "pur": -.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

pour ← opur · poru · pourr · ppour · puor

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pour" and "pur" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "pour" is a verb and "pur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "pour" or "pur"?

"pour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,085 in our English list, against #34,243 for "pur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've compared "pour" and "pur". Here's where to go from here.

Full dictionary entry for "pour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "pur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #268,605 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"pour" and "pur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PPA vs pur". 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

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.