Which to use
“knew” and “know” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #635
- “knew” frequency rank
- #84
- “know” frequency rank
- 719
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | knew | know |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of know | To perceive the truth or factuality of; to be certain of; to be certain that. |
Where the eye mixes knew and know
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. knew (/ˈnjuː/) and know (/nəʊ/) 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 a single letter - e in “knew” becomes o in “know”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 719, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
knew is recorded at frequency rank #635, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈnjuː/. know is at rank #84, tagged as averb, pronounced /nəʊ/.
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 719, this pair ranks #528,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of knew vs know
Shared letters: knw. Private to "knew": e. Private to "know": o.
"knew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "know" · 4 letters · shape CCVC