pomvspommeWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“pom” and “pomme” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#23,981
“pom” frequency rank
#4,518
“pomme” frequency rank
28499
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pom pomme
Definition Anglais. Fruit du pommier, de forme ronde, à la chair ferme et de saveur diverse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set pom and pomme apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
pom
5 ch
pomme

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. pom (\pɒm\) and pomme (\pɔm\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “pom” sits inside “pomme”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28499, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pom is recorded at frequency rank #23,981, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɒm\. pomme is at rank #4,518, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔm\.

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 28499, this pair ranks #322,392 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pom vs pomme

Shared letters: mop. Private to "pom": -. Private to "pomme": e.

"pom" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "pomme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pommeopmme · pmome · pome · pomem · ppomme

Frequency comparison

pom#23,981
pomme#4,518

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "pom" and "pomme" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pɒm\ versus \pɔm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "pom" or "pomme"?
"pomme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,518 in our French list, against #23,981 for "pom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering pom vs pomme

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “pom” 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