blowsvsboweWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#6,658
“blows” frequency rank
#42,557
“bowe” frequency rank
49215
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature blows bowe
Definition plural of blow Obsolete spelling of bow.

Letter map: blows vs bowe

Shared letters muted; letters that set blows and bowe apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

5 ch
blows
4 ch
bowe

Grammar separator: blows vs bowe

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: blows is anoun and boweaverb. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

blows is recorded at frequency rank #6,658, classified as anoun, pronounced /bləʊz/. 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 49215, this pair ranks #185,707 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of blows vs bowe

Shared letters: bow. Private to "blows": ls. Private to "bowe": e.

"blows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC  ·  "bowe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • blowsbblows · bllows · blosw · blowss · blowws · blwos · bolws · lbows
  • bowebbowe · boew · bowwe · bwoe · obwe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "blows" and "bowe" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "blows" is a noun and "bowe" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "blows" or "bowe"?
"blows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,658 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.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "blows" and "bowe".

  • Full dictionary entry for "blows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bowe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #185,707 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "blows" and "bowe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bowe vs bowyer". 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 #185,707 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list