pourvspusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,113
“pour” frequency rank
#26,976
“pus” frequency rank
48089
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pour pus
Definition Porros, puerros. Sustancia blanquecina o amarillenta producida por el cuerpo durante procesos infecciosos. Está compuesto, principalmente, por microorganismos muertos, glóbulos blancos muertos, y restos de tejido dañado.

Where the eye mixes pour and pus

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

4 ch
pour
3 ch
pus

Why the eye confuses pour with pus

A purely visual mix-up. pour (/ˈpuːr/) and pus ([ˈpus]) 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 48089, 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/. pus is at rank #26,976, tagged as anoun, pronounced [ˈpus].

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 48089, this pair ranks #116,403 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pour vs pus

Shared letters: pu. Private to "pour": or. Private to "pus": s.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pouropur · poru · pourr · ppour

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pour" and "pus" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈpuːr/ versus [ˈpus]) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "pour" vs "pus" - which ranks higher?
"pour" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,113 in our Spanish list, against #26,976 for "pus". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "pour" and "pus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #116,403 of 323,831 scored Spanish confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "pour" and "pus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "PRC vs pus". 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 #116,403 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