Bough or bow?
bough is a noun meaning “A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk”; bow is a noun meaning “A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends…”. In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) bow is about 37 times as common as bough.
What is the difference between bough and bow?
| bough | bow | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun, verb, interjection |
| Meaning | A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk | A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow) To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow |
| Example | When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. (Rock-a-bye Baby) | Holonym: bow and arrow |
| Forms | boughs | bows |
| Pronunciation | /ˈbaʊ̯/ [ˈbaʊ̯] /ˈbæʊ̯/ | /ˈbəʊ̯/ /ˈboʊ̯/ /ˈbɔʊ̯/ |
| In writing | about once in every 2 million words | 20 times per million words |
Sources: bough and bow in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of bough and bow
bough
- 1
A tree-branch, usually a primary one directly attached to the trunk
When the bough breaks, the cradle will fall. (Rock-a-bye Baby)
bow
- 1
A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows
Holonym: bow and arrow
- 2
To play music on (a stringed) instrument using a bow
The musician bowed his violin expertly
- 3
To bend oneself as a gesture of respect or deference
That singer always bows towards her audience for some reason
- 4
A gesture, usually showing respect, made by inclining the head or bending forward at the waist; a reverence
He made a polite bow as he entered the room
- 5
The front of a boat or ship
Holonyms: watercraft < vessel
- 6
Alternative form of bao; any of several Chinese buns and breads
- 7
about to
- 8
Ellipsis of bow-wow
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, bough or bow?
bough appears about once in every 2 million words; bow 20 times per million words.
bough about once in every 2 million wordsbow 20 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search bough vs bow?
“bough vs bow” is searched about 40 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“bow vs bough”, “bough or bow”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.