pour
/poɹ/verb, noun
pour is spelled P-O-U-R: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “pore vs pour” about 390 times a month (Google, United States). As a verb, pour means “To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it” (English Wiktionary, September 2026).
How many letters and syllables are in pour?
| Letters | 4: P-O-U-R |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 13 times per million words; the 6,047th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with | |
| Same letters |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is pour?
Pour appears 13 times per million words in written English, the 6,047th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce pour?
- UK /pɔː/
- US /poɹ/
- /po(ː)ɹ/
Pour has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-pour.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with pour
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: paw, pore (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with pour?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as pour from its last stressed vowel (/oɹ/):
Spelled with the same letters in another order: puro, roup.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of pour
- pours present, singular, he/she/it, plural
- pouring participle, present
- poured participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does pour mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
verb
- 1
To cause (liquid, or liquid-like substance) to flow in a stream, either out of a container or into it.
pour water from a jug
- 2
To send out as in a stream or a flood; to cause (an emotion) to come out; to cause to escape.
My teacher poured scorn on my attempts at writing.
- 3
To send forth from, as in a stream; to discharge uninterruptedly.
- 4
To flow, pass, or issue in a stream; to fall continuously and abundantly.
the rain poured down.
- 5
To rain hard.
It's pouring outside.
- 6
Of a beverage, to be on tap or otherwise available for serving to customers.
- 7
To move in a throng, as a crowd.
The people poured out of the theater.
- 8
To move (a drunk or unsteady person) into or out of a place or vehicle.
She poured him into a taxi and handed the driver the fare.
noun
- 1
The act of pouring.
The bartender's inexpert pour left me with a pint of beer that was half foam.
- 2
Something, or an amount, poured.
- 3
colloquialA downpour; a flood of precipitation.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Pour in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | verser , se déverser |
| German | gießen, schütten, eingießen, einschütten, einschenken |
| Portuguese | despejar, entornar , afluir, escorrer , despejamento |
| Spanish | escanciar, echar, venenciar, transvasar, trasegar, trasvasar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does pour come from?
From Middle English pouren (“to pour”), of uncertain origin. Perhaps from Old Northern French purer (“to sift (grain), pour out (water)”), from Latin pūrō (“to purify”), from pūrus (“pure”). Compare Middle Dutch afpuren (“to pour off, drain”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).