crowbarvscrowderWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“crowbar” and “crowder” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,638
“crowbar” frequency rank
#32,338
“crowder” frequency rank
72976
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crowbar crowder
Definition An iron or steel bar, often with a flattened end which may also be hook-shaped, to be used as a lever to manually force things apart. One who crowds or pushes.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crowbar and crowder apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
crowbar
7 ch
crowder

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. crowbar (/ˈkɹoʊˌbɑɹ/) and crowder (/ˈkɹaʊdə(ɹ)/) 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 72976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crowbar is recorded at frequency rank #40,638, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹoʊˌbɑɹ/. crowder is at rank #32,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈkɹaʊdə(ɹ)/.

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 72976, this pair ranks #41,196 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crowbar vs crowder

Shared letters: corw. Private to "crowbar": ab. Private to "crowder": de.

"crowbar" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC  ·  "crowder" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • crowbarccrowbar · corwbar · crobwar · crowabr · crowbarr · crowbbar · crowbra · crowwbar
  • crowderccrowder · corwder · crodwer · crowdder · crowderr · crowdre · crowedr · crowwder

Frequency comparison

crowbar#40,638
crowder#32,338

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crowbar" and "crowder" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ˈkɹoʊˌbɑɹ/ versus /ˈkɹaʊdə(ɹ)/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "crowbar" or "crowder"?
"crowder" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,338 in our English list, against #40,638 for "crowbar". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crowbar vs crowder

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crowbar” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list