bohrvsbowConfusable pair

Quick tell: bohr is a verb, bow is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“bohr” is a verb and “bow” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,715
“bohr” frequency rank
#43,070
“bow” frequency rank
84785
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bohr bow
Definition 2. Person Singular Imperativ Präsens Aktiv des Verbs bohren Bogen; eine Jagdwaffe, die eine elastische Sehne nutzt, um Pfeile zu beschleunigen

Where the eye mixes bohr and bow

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
bohr
3 ch
bow

Look-alike desk: bohr vs bow

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bohr is [boːɐ̯] while bow is [bəʊ]. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84785, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bohr is recorded at frequency rank #41,715, classified as averb, pronounced [boːɐ̯]. 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 84785, this pair ranks #118,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bohr vs bow

Shared letters: bo. Private to "bohr": hr. Private to "bow": w.

"bohr" · 4 letters · shape CVCC  ·  "bow" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bohrbbohr · bhor · bohhr · bohrr · borh · obhr

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "bohr" and "bow" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bohr" is a verb and "bow" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bohr" or "bow"?
"bohr" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41,715 in our German list, against #43,070 for "bow". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "bohr" 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 #118,282 of 2,006,359 scored German confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bohr" 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 #118,282 of 2,006,359 scored German pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list