Which to use
“borrow” is a verb and “burrow” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,101
- “borrow” frequency rank
- #25,305
- “burrow” frequency rank
- 32406
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | borrow | burrow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To receive (something) from somebody temporarily, expecting to return it. | A tunnel or hole, often as dug by a small creature. |
Where the eye mixes borrow and burrow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between borrow and burrow
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: borrow is /ˈbɒɹəʊ/ while burrow is /ˈbʌɹəʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - o in “borrow” becomes u in “burrow”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32406, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
borrow is recorded at frequency rank #7,101, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈbɒɹəʊ/. burrow is at rank #25,305, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈbʌɹəʊ/.
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 32406, this pair ranks #338,045 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of borrow vs burrow
Shared letters: borw. Private to "borrow": -. Private to "burrow": u.
"borrow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "burrow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "borrow" for "burrow" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "borrow" or "burrow" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "borrow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "burrow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #338,045 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "borrow" and "burrow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Burgos vs burrow". 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 #338,045 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.