Which to use
“dobby” and “dowry” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,337
- “dobby” frequency rank
- #24,430
- “dowry” frequency rank
- 69767
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dobby | dowry |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A device in some looms that allows the weaving of small geometric patterns. | Payment, such as property or money, paid by the bride's family to the groom or his family at the time of marriage. |
Letter map: dobby vs dowry
Shared letters muted; letters that set dobby and dowry apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. dobby and dowry follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Pair insight - dobby / dowry
dobby and dowry are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69767, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dobby is recorded at frequency rank #45,337, classified as anoun. dowry is at rank #24,430, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈdaʊəɹi/.
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 69767, this pair ranks #53,214 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of dobby vs dowry
Shared letters: doy. Private to "dobby": b. Private to "dowry": rw.
"dobby" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "dowry" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "dobby" for "dowry" ever safe?
Frequency check: "dobby" vs "dowry" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've compared "dobby" and "dowry". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "dobby" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dowry" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #53,214 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dobby" and "dowry" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dobby vs downy". 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 #53,214 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.