Which to use
“apron” and “arrow” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,015
- “apron” frequency rank
- #5,758
- “arrow” frequency rank
- 23773
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | apron | arrow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | An article of clothing worn over the front of the torso and/or legs for protection from spills; also historically worn by Freemasons and as part of women's fashion. | A projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins that is shot from a bow. |
Where the eye mixes apron and arrow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: apron vs arrow
A purely visual mix-up. apron (/ˈeɪ.pɹən/) and arrow (/ˈæɹ.əʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23773, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
apron is recorded at frequency rank #18,015, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈeɪ.pɹən/. arrow is at rank #5,758, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæɹ.əʊ/.
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 23773, this pair ranks #406,889 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of apron vs arrow
Shared letters: aor. Private to "apron": np. Private to "arrow": w.
"apron" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "arrow" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "apron" for "arrow" ever safe?
Which is more common, "apron" or "arrow"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "apron" and "arrow" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "apron" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #406,889 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "apron" and "arrow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apron vs ARN". 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 #406,889 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.