Which to use
“allowed” and “avowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #985
- “allowed” frequency rank
- #43,515
- “avowed” frequency rank
- 44500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allowed | avowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of allow | simple past and past participle of avow |
Where the eye mixes allowed and avowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: allowed vs avowed
A purely visual mix-up. allowed (/əˈlaʊd/) and avowed (/əˈvaʊd/) 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 44500, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allowed is recorded at frequency rank #985, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈlaʊd/. avowed is at rank #43,515, tagged as averb, pronounced /əˈvaʊd/.
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 44500, this pair ranks #229,959 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of allowed vs avowed
Shared letters: adeow. Private to "allowed": l. Private to "avowed": v.
"allowed" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "avowed" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "allowed" for "avowed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "allowed" vs "avowed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "allowed" and "avowed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "allowed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,959 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "allowed" and "avowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avowed vs awed". 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 #229,959 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.