Which to use
“arrow” and “arrows” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,758
- “arrow” frequency rank
- #9,564
- “arrows” frequency rank
- 15322
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | arrow | arrows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A projectile consisting of a shaft, a point and a tail with stabilizing fins that is shot from a bow. | plural of arrow |
Where the eye mixes arrow and arrows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses arrow with arrows
A purely visual mix-up. arrow (/ˈæɹ.əʊ/) and arrows (/ˈæɹ.əʊz/) 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 extra letter(s) - “arrow” sits inside “arrows”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
arrow is recorded at frequency rank #5,758, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈæɹ.əʊ/. arrows is at rank #9,564, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈæɹ.əʊz/.
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 15322, this pair ranks #464,724 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of arrow vs arrows
Shared letters: aorw. Private to "arrow": -. Private to "arrows": s.
"arrow" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "arrows" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "arrow" for "arrows" ever safe?
Frequency check: "arrow" vs "arrows" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "arrow" and "arrows" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "arrow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "arrows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #464,724 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "arrow" and "arrows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "arras vs arrows". 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 #464,724 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.