When do I use "Flour" and when do I use "Flower"?

Is it a baking ingredient? "Flour". Is it the blooming part of a plant? "Flower".

What is the most common mistake with "Flour" and "Flower"?

"I bought some flower to bake bread" is wrong: the baking ingredient is "flour". "The garden is full of flour" is also wrong: the plants have "flowers".

How do I remember the difference between "Flour" and "Flower"?

"Flour" contains "four": baking often involves precise measurements, like four cups. "Flower" contains "flow": flowers flow and bloom in the breeze.

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Which one to use?Beginnernounnoun

FlourvsFlower

'Flour' is the ground grain used in baking; 'flower' is the colourful bloom of a plant.

Side-by-side comparison

Flour

noun

"Flour" is the powder made by grinding cereal grains, used for making bread, cakes, and pasta.

Add two cups of flour to the mixing bowl.
Gluten-free flour is made from rice or almonds.
She dusted the work surface with flour before rolling the dough.

Flower

noun

"Flower" is the bloom of a plant. Also the verb to bloom: "The garden flowers in spring" = the garden blooms in spring.

He brought her a bouquet of yellow flowers.
The cherry trees flower every spring.
Each flower in the garden was a different variety of rose.

Common mistake

•"I bought some flower to bake bread" is wrong: the baking ingredient is "flour".
•"The garden is full of flour" is also wrong: the plants have "flowers".

Trick to remember it

•"Flour" contains "four": baking often involves precise measurements, like four cups.
•"Flower" contains "flow": flowers flow and bloom in the breeze.

Quick rule

•Is it a baking ingredient? "Flour".
•Is it the blooming part of a plant? "Flower".

Did you know?

"Flour" and "flower" are etymologically the same word. In the Middle Ages, "flower of wheat" meant the finest, most refined part of the grain, just as the flower is the most beautiful and quintessential part of a plant. Over time the spelling diverged and "flour" specialized into the culinary ingredient. The culinary "flour" and the botanical "flower" share the same poetic origin.