Which to use
“knew” and “knows” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #635
- “knew” frequency rank
- #906
- “knows” frequency rank
- 1541
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | knew | knows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past of know | third-person singular simple present indicative of know |
Where the eye mixes knew and knows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. knew (/ˈnjuː/) and knows (/nəʊz/) 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 1541, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
knew is recorded at frequency rank #635, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈnjuː/. knows is at rank #906, tagged as averb, pronounced /nəʊz/.
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 1541, this pair ranks #527,214 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of knew vs knows
Shared letters: knw. Private to "knew": e. Private to "knows": os.
"knew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "knows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC