pourvspunWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“pour” and “pun” are a confusable Spanish pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#21,113
“pour” frequency rank
#39,946
“pun” frequency rank
61059
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pour pun
Definition Porros, puerros. Gas sonoro y maloliente expelido por el ano.

Where the eye mixes pour and pun

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
pour
3 ch
pun

Why the eye confuses pour with pun

A purely visual mix-up. pour (/ˈpuːr/) and pun ([ˈpũn]) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61059, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pour is recorded at frequency rank #21,113, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈpuːr/. pun is at rank #39,946, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpũn].

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 61059, this pair ranks #56,775 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of pour vs pun

Shared letters: pu. Private to "pour": or. Private to "pun": n.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pouropur · poru · pourr · ppour

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pour" and "pun" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpuːr/ versus [ˈpũn]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pour" vs "pun" - which ranks higher?
"pour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,113 in our Spanish list, against #39,946 for "pun". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "pour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pun" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,775 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pour" and "pun" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs pun". 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 #56,775 of 323,831 scored Spanish pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list