arcovsarrowWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: arco is a adverb, arrow is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“arco” is an adverb and “arrow” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#49,190
“arco” frequency rank
#5,758
“arrow” frequency rank
54948
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature arco arrow
Definition A note in string instrument musical notation indicating that the bow is to be used in the usual way, usually following a passage that is played pizzicato. A projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins that is shot from a bow.

Letter map: arco vs arrow

Shared letters muted; letters that set arco and arrow apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

4 ch
arco
5 ch
arrow

Grammar separator: arco vs arrow

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: arco is anadverb and arrowanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54948, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

arco is recorded at frequency rank #49,190, classified as anadv. 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 54948, this pair ranks #137,264 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of arco vs arrow

Shared letters: aor. Private to "arco": c. Private to "arrow": w.

"arco" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "arrow" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • arcoarcco · aroc · arrco · raco
  • arrowarorw · arow · arroww · arrwo · rarow

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "arco" and "arrow" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "arco" is an adverb and "arrow" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "arco" vs "arrow" - which ranks higher?
"arrow" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,758 in our English list, against #49,190 for "arco". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pair "arco" vs "arrow" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "arco" 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 #137,264 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "arco" and "arrow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "algo vs arco". 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 #137,264 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list