Which to use
“pons” is a noun and “pour” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,727
- “pons” frequency rank
- #19
- “pour” frequency rank
- 21746
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pons | pour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pont. | Au motif de ; dans le but de ; afin de ; à destination de. |
Letter map: pons vs pour
Shared letters muted; letters that set pons and pour apart highlighted. Shared run: 2.
Grammar separator: pons vs pour
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: pons is anoun and pourapreposition. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21746, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pons is recorded at frequency rank #21,727, classified as anoun. pour is at rank #19, tagged as aprep, pronounced \puʁ\.
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 21746, this pair ranks #361,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of pons vs pour
Shared letters: op. Private to "pons": ns. Private to "pour": ru.
"pons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "pour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pons" for "pour" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pons" or "pour" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "pons" and "pour".
- Full dictionary entry for "pons" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #361,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pons" and "pour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pogo vs pons". 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 #361,623 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.