Which to use
“bowled” is a verb and “Bowles” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,459
- “bowled” frequency rank
- #27,385
- “Bowles” frequency rank
- 48844
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | bowled | Bowles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of bowl | A surname. |
Letter map: bowled vs Bowles
Shared letters muted; letters that set bowled and Bowles apart highlighted. Shared run: 5. bowled and Bowles follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Grammar separator: bowled vs Bowles
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: bowled is averb and Bowlesaname. On the page they differ by a single letter - d in “bowled” becomes s in “Bowles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48844, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
bowled is recorded at frequency rank #21,459, classified as averb, pronounced /bəʊld/. Bowles is at rank #27,385, tagged as aname.
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 48844, this pair ranks #189,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of bowled vs Bowles
Shared letters: below. Private to "bowled": d. Private to "Bowles": s.
"bowled" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Bowles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "bowled" for "Bowles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "bowled" vs "Bowles" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pair "bowled" vs "Bowles" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "bowled" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Bowles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #189,260 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "bowled" and "Bowles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Bowles 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 #189,260 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.