Which to use
“avowed” and “awed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,515
- “avowed” frequency rank
- #45,213
- “awed” frequency rank
- 88728
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | avowed | awed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of avow | simple past and past participle of awe |
Where the eye mixes avowed and awed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between avowed and awed
A purely visual mix-up. avowed (/əˈvaʊd/) and awed (/ɔːd/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 88728, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
avowed is recorded at frequency rank #43,515, classified as averb, pronounced /əˈvaʊd/. awed is at rank #45,213, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɔːd/.
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 88728, this pair ranks #5,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of avowed vs awed
Shared letters: adew. Private to "avowed": ov. Private to "awed": -.
"avowed" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "awed" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "avowed" and "awed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "avowed" or "awed"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "avowed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "awed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #5,999 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "avowed" and "awed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ake 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 #5,999 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.