# pouch

> English word · Noun · IPA /paʊt͡ʃ/ · frequency rank #16,563

## Definitions
1. A small bag usually closed with a drawstring.
2. An organic pocket in which a marsupial carries its young.
3. Any pocket or bag-shaped object, such as a cheek pouch.
4. A protuberant belly; a paunch.
5. A cyst or sac containing fluid.
6. A silicle, or short pod, as of the shepherd's purse.
7. A bulkhead in the hold of a vessel, to prevent grain etc. from shifting.

## Etymology
Etymology tree
Proto-Germanic *pukô
Frankish *pokōbor.
Old French puche
Old Northern French pouchebor.
Middle English pouche
English pouch
From Middle English pouche, poche, borrowed from Old Northern French pouche, from Old French poche, puche (whence French poche; compare also the Anglo-Norman variant poke), of Germanic origin: from Frankish *poka (“pouch”) (compare Middle Dutch poke, Old English pohha, dialectal German Pfoch). Doublet of poke; compare pocket.

## Easily confused with
- **push** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-push)
- **pour** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-pour)
- **puck** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-puck)
- **Pugh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-pugh)
- **pout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-pout)
- **pound** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-pound)
- **punch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-punch)
- **psych** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-psych)
- **pounce** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-pounce)
- **pouches** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pouch-vs-pouches)
- **POC** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/poc-vs-pouch)
- **posh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/posh-vs-pouch)
- **Pooh** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pooh-vs-pouch)
- **pitch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pitch-vs-pouch)
- **patch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/patch-vs-pouch)
- **porch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/porch-vs-pouch)
- **peach** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/peach-vs-pouch)
- **pinch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/pinch-vs-pouch)
- **plush** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/plush-vs-pouch)
- **perch** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/perch-vs-pouch)

## Common misspellings (7)
`opuch`, `pocuh`, `poucch`, `pouchh`, `pouhc`, `ppouch`, `puoch`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/pouch