Which to use
“meadow” is a noun and “Meadows” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,017
- “meadow” frequency rank
- #13,018
- “Meadows” frequency rank
- 26035
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | meadow | Meadows |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | A field or pasture; a piece of land either intentionally cultivated with grass or (especially) naturally covered with grass, especially one that is intended to be mown for hay or to be grazed. | A surname. |
Where the eye mixes meadow and Meadows
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses meadow with Meadows
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: meadow is /ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/ while Meadows is /ˈmɛd.oʊz/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “meadow” sits inside “Meadows”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
meadow is recorded at frequency rank #13,017, classified as anoun, pronounced /ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/. Meadows is at rank #13,018, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈmɛd.oʊz/.
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 26035, this pair ranks #389,713 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of meadow vs Meadows
Shared letters: ademow. Private to "meadow": -. Private to "Meadows": s.
"meadow" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "Meadows" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "meadow" for "Meadows" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "meadow" or "Meadows" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "meadow" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Meadows" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #389,713 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "meadow" and "Meadows" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Maddow vs meadow". 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 #389,713 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.