Which to use
“blown” is an adjective and “brow” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,009
- “blown” frequency rank
- #13,874
- “brow” frequency rank
- 18883
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blown | brow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Distended, swollen, or inflated. | The bony ridge over the eyes, upon which the eyebrows are located. |
Where the eye mixes blown and brow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: blown vs brow
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: blown is /bləʊn/ while brow is /bɹaʊ/. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18883, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blown is recorded at frequency rank #5,009, classified as anadj, pronounced /bləʊn/. brow is at rank #13,874, tagged as anoun, pronounced /bɹaʊ/.
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 18883, this pair ranks #441,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of blown vs brow
Shared letters: bow. Private to "blown": ln. Private to "brow": r.
"blown" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "brow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "blown" and "brow" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "blown" or "brow" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "blown" and "brow" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "blown" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "brow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #441,957 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blown" and "brow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "BRIC vs brow". 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 #441,957 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.