Which to use
“bellow” and “bellows” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,338
- “bellow” frequency rank
- #26,342
- “bellows” frequency rank
- 63680
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bellow | bellows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | The deep roar of a large animal, or any similar loud noise. | A device for delivering pressurized air in a controlled quantity to a controlled location. At its most simple terms a bellows is a container which is deformable in such a way as to alter its volume which has an outlet or outlets where one wishes to blow air. |
Where the eye mixes bellow and bellows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between bellow and bellows
A purely visual mix-up. bellow (/ˈbɛloʊ/) and bellows (/ˈbɛl.oʊz/) 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) - “bellow” sits inside “bellows”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63680, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bellow is recorded at frequency rank #37,338, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɛloʊ/. bellows is at rank #26,342, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbɛl.oʊz/.
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 63680, this pair ranks #81,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of bellow vs bellows
Shared letters: below. Private to "bellow": -. Private to "bellows": s.
"bellow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bellows" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bellow" for "bellows" ever safe?
Which is more common, "bellow" or "bellows"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bellow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bellows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #81,644 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bellow" and "bellows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Belles vs bellow". 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 #81,644 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.