Which to use
“blow” and “bow” are a confusable German pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,964
- “blow” frequency rank
- #43,070
- “bow” frequency rank
- 74034
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blow | bow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Schlag, Stoß | Bogen; eine Jagdwaffe, die eine elastische Sehne nutzt, um Pfeile zu beschleunigen |
Where the eye mixes blow and bow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: blow vs bow
A purely visual mix-up. blow ([bləʊ]) and bow ([bəʊ]) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blow is recorded at frequency rank #30,964, classified as anoun, pronounced [bləʊ]. bow is at rank #43,070, tagged as anoun, pronounced [bəʊ].
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 74034, this pair ranks #344,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of blow vs bow
Shared letters: bow. Private to "blow": l. Private to "bow": -.
"blow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "bow" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- blow ← bblow · bllow · bloww · blwo · lbow
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "blow" and "bow" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "blow" or "bow"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "blow" and "bow" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #344,159 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blow" and "bow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bic vs bow". 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 #344,159 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.