Which to use
“borne” and “bowe” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,658
- “borne” frequency rank
- #42,557
- “bowe” frequency rank
- 54215
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | borne | bowe |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of bear | Obsolete spelling of bow. |
Letter map: borne vs bowe
Shared letters muted; letters that set borne and bowe apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.
Corpus notes: borne and bowe
borne and bowe are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54215, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
borne is recorded at frequency rank #11,658, classified as averb, pronounced /bɔːn/. 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 54215, this pair ranks #142,812 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of borne vs bowe
Shared letters: beo. Private to "borne": nr. Private to "bowe": w.
"borne" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "bowe" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "borne" for "bowe" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "borne" or "bowe" show up more?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "borne" and "bowe".
- Full dictionary entry for "borne" 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 #142,812 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "borne" 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 #142,812 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.