Which to use
“dock” is a noun and “dow” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,218
- “dock” frequency rank
- #12,409
- “dow” frequency rank
- 19627
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dock | dow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any of the genus Rumex of coarse weedy plants with small green flowers related to buckwheat, especially bitter dock (Rumex obtusifolius), and used as potherbs and in folk medicine, especially in curing nettle rash. | To be worth. |
Where the eye mixes dock and dow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: dock is /dɒk/ while dow is /daʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19627, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dock is recorded at frequency rank #7,218, classified as anoun, pronounced /dɒk/. dow is at rank #12,409, tagged as averb, pronounced /daʊ/.
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 19627, this pair ranks #436,847 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dock vs dow
Shared letters: do. Private to "dock": ck. Private to "dow": w.
"dock" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "dow" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- dock ← dcok · ddock · docck · dockk · dokc · odck