Which to use
“moth” is a noun and “mow” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #15,005
- “moth” frequency rank
- #25,486
- “mow” frequency rank
- 40491
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | moth | mow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Any flying insect of the order Lepidoptera not in the superfamily Papilionoidea, most species of which are nocturnal and can be distinguished from butterflies by feather-like antennae. | To cut down grass or crops. |
Where the eye mixes moth and mow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: moth vs mow
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: moth is /mɒθ/ while mow is /məʊ/. 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 40491, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
moth is recorded at frequency rank #15,005, classified as anoun, pronounced /mɒθ/. mow is at rank #25,486, tagged as averb, pronounced /məʊ/.
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 40491, this pair ranks #267,078 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of moth vs mow
Shared letters: mo. Private to "moth": ht. Private to "mow": w.
"moth" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "mow" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- moth ← mmoth · moht · mothh · motth · mtoh · omth
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "moth" for "mow" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "moth" or "mow" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "moth" and "mow" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "moth" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,078 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "moth" and "mow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Moog vs mow". 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 #267,078 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.