Which to use
“biting” and “bowing” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,000
- “biting” frequency rank
- #23,763
- “bowing” frequency rank
- 33763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | biting | bowing |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of bite | present participle and gerund of bow (all senses) |
Where the eye mixes biting and bowing
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: biting vs bowing
A purely visual mix-up. biting (/ˈbaɪtɪŋ/) and bowing (/ˈbaʊɪŋ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
biting is recorded at frequency rank #10,000, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbaɪtɪŋ/. bowing is at rank #23,763, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈbaʊɪŋ/.
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 33763, this pair ranks #326,627 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of biting vs bowing
Shared letters: bgin. Private to "biting": t. Private to "bowing": ow.
"biting" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "bowing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "biting" and "bowing" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "biting" or "bowing"?
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 "biting" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bowing" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,627 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "biting" and "bowing" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "boing vs bowing". 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 #326,627 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.