Which to use
“pour” is a preposition and “puer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #19
- “pour” frequency rank
- #37,014
- “puer” frequency rank
- 37033
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pour | puer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Au motif de ; dans le but de ; afin de ; à destination de. | Sentir mauvais. |
Where the eye mixes pour and puer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: pour vs puer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pour is \puʁ\ while puer is \pɥe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pour is recorded at frequency rank #19, classified as aprep, pronounced \puʁ\. puer is at rank #37,014, tagged as averb, pronounced \pɥe\.
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 37033, this pair ranks #265,355 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pour vs puer
Shared letters: pru. Private to "pour": o. Private to "puer": e.
"pour" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "puer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pour" for "puer" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pour" or "puer" show up more?
After this comparison
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 "puer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,355 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pour" and "puer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prep vs puer". 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 #265,355 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.