vom vs vor, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“vom” is a preposition and “vor” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#47,100
“vom” frequency rank: #46,525
“vor” frequency rank: 93625
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	vom	vor
Definition	Contraction de von dem: du..	Avant, exprime un mouvement spatial.

Where the spellings diverge

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

3 ch

vom

3 ch

vor

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vom is \fɔm\ while vor is \foːɐ̯\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “vom” becomes r in “vor”, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 93625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vom is recorded at frequency rank #47,100, classified as aprep, pronounced \fɔm\. vor is at rank #46,525, tagged as anadv, pronounced \foːɐ̯\.

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 93625, this pair ranks #2,140 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of vom vs vor

Shared letters: ov. Private to "vom": m. Private to "vor": r.

"vom" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "vor" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Frequency comparison

vom#47,100

vor#46,525

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vom" and "vor" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vom" is a preposition and "vor" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "vom" or "vor"?

"vor" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #46,525 in our French list, against #47,100 for "vom". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering vom vs vor

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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