Which to use
“awed” is a verb and “aww” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #45,213
- “awed” frequency rank
- #11,649
- “aww” frequency rank
- 56862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | awed | aww |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of awe | Elongated form of aw. |
Where the eye mixes awed and aww
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between awed and aww
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: awed is /ɔːd/ while aww is /ɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
awed is recorded at frequency rank #45,213, classified as averb, pronounced /ɔːd/. aww is at rank #11,649, tagged as anintj, pronounced /ɔː/.
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 56862, this pair ranks #123,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of awed vs aww
Shared letters: aw. Private to "awed": de. Private to "aww": -.
"awed" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "aww" · 3 letters · shape VCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- awed ← aewd · awedd · awwed
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "awed" and "aww" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "awed" vs "aww" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "awed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aww" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #123,229 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "awed" and "aww" 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 #123,229 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.