Which to use
“glowed” and “glows” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #45,401
- “glowed” frequency rank
- #31,575
- “glows” frequency rank
- 76976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | glowed | glows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of glow | third-person singular simple present indicative of glow |
Where the eye mixes glowed and glows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: glowed vs glows
A purely visual mix-up. glowed (/ɡləʊd/) and glows (/ɡloʊz/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
glowed is recorded at frequency rank #45,401, classified as averb, pronounced /ɡləʊd/. glows is at rank #31,575, tagged as averb, pronounced /ɡloʊz/.
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 76976, this pair ranks #28,592 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of glowed vs glows
Shared letters: glow. Private to "glowed": de. Private to "glows": s.
"glowed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "glows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "glowed" for "glows" ever safe?
Frequency check: "glowed" vs "glows" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "glowed" and "glows" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "glowed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "glows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #28,592 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "glowed" and "glows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gloved vs glowed". 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 #28,592 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.