Which to use
“bolted” and “bowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,857
- “bolted” frequency rank
- #18,773
- “bowed” frequency rank
- 39630
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bolted | bowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of bolt | simple past and past participle of bow |
Where the eye mixes bolted and bowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses bolted with bowed
A purely visual mix-up. bolted (/ˈbəʊltɪd/) and bowed (/baʊd/) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bolted is recorded at frequency rank #20,857, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbəʊltɪd/. bowed is at rank #18,773, tagged as averb, pronounced /baʊd/.
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 39630, this pair ranks #274,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bolted vs bowed
Shared letters: bdeo. Private to "bolted": lt. Private to "bowed": w.
"bolted" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "bowed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "bolted" and "bowed" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "bolted" or "bowed"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "bolted" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "bowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #274,919 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bolted" and "bowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bolted vs butted". 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 #274,919 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.