flourvsfürWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: flour is a noun, für is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flour” is a noun and “für” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#48,533
“flour” frequency rank
#24,219
“für” frequency rank
72752
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flour für
Definition Farine. Pour, à l’intention de.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set flour and für apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
flour
3 ch
für

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flour is \ˈflaʊ.ɚ\ while für is \fyːɐ̯\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72752, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flour is recorded at frequency rank #48,533, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈflaʊ.ɚ\. für is at rank #24,219, tagged as aprep, pronounced \fyːɐ̯\.

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 72752, this pair ranks #42,905 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of flour vs für

Shared letters: fr. Private to "flour": lou. Private to "für": ü.

"flour" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "für" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • flourfflour · fllour · floru · flourr · folur · lfour

Frequency comparison

flour#48,533
für#24,219

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flour" and "für" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flour" is a noun and "für" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "flour" or "für"?
"für" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,219 in our French list, against #48,533 for "flour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering flour vs für

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “flour”; for a preposition, it's “für”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “flour” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list