Which to use
“crossbar” and “crossbow” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,407
- “crossbar” frequency rank
- #27,107
- “crossbow” frequency rank
- 64514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | crossbar | crossbow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any transverse bar or piece, such as a bar across a door, or the iron bar or stock which passes through the shank of an anchor. | A mechanised weapon, based on the bow and arrow, that shoots bolts. |
Where the eye mixes crossbar and crossbow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. crossbar and crossbow follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: crossbar vs crossbow
A purely visual mix-up. crossbar (/ˈkɹ̠ɑs.bɑɹ/) and crossbow (/ˈkɹɒsbəʊ/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
crossbar is recorded at frequency rank #37,407, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹ̠ɑs.bɑɹ/. crossbow is at rank #27,107, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹɒsbəʊ/.
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 64514, this pair ranks #77,360 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of crossbar vs crossbow
Shared letters: bcors. Private to "crossbar": a. Private to "crossbow": w.
"crossbar" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC · "crossbow" · 8 letters · shape CCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "crossbar" for "crossbow" ever safe?
Frequency check: "crossbar" vs "crossbow" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "crossbar" and "crossbow" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "crossbar" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "crossbow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #77,360 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "crossbar" and "crossbow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crossbar vs crowbar". 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 #77,360 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.