Which to use
“blew” and “blow” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,859
- “blew” frequency rank
- #2,516
- “blow” frequency rank
- 8375
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blew | blow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of blow | To produce an air current. |
Where the eye mixes blew and blow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: blew vs blow
A purely visual mix-up. blew (/bl(j)uː/) and blow (/bləʊ/) 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 a single letter - e in “blew” becomes o in “blow”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8375, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blew is recorded at frequency rank #5,859, classified as averb, pronounced /bl(j)uː/. blow is at rank #2,516, tagged as averb, pronounced /bləʊ/.
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 8375, this pair ranks #502,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of blew vs blow
Shared letters: blw. Private to "blew": e. Private to "blow": o.
"blew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "blow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "blew" and "blow" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "blew" or "blow"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "blew" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #502,828 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blew" and "blow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blew vs bylaw". 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 #502,828 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.