blowervsboweWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: blower is a noun, bowe is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“blower” is a noun and “bowe” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#20,300
“blower” frequency rank
#42,557
“bowe” frequency rank
62857
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blower bowe
Definition A person who blows. Obsolete spelling of bow.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set blower and bowe apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
blower
4 ch
bowe

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: blower is anoun and boweaverb. On the page they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62857, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blower is recorded at frequency rank #20,300, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈbləʊ.ə/. bowe is at rank #42,557, tagged as averb.

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 62857, this pair ranks #86,164 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of blower vs bowe

Shared letters: beow. Private to "blower": lr. Private to "bowe": -.

"blower" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC  ·  "bowe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blowerbblower · bllower · bloewr · blowerr · blowre · blowwer · blwoer · lbower
  • bowebbowe · boew · bowwe · bwoe · obwe

Frequency comparison

blower#20,300
bowe#42,557

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "blower" and "bowe" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blower" is a noun and "bowe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "blower" or "bowe"?
"blower" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,300 in our English list, against #42,557 for "bowe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering blower vs bowe

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “blower”; for a verb, it's “bowe”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “blower” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list