Which to use
“move” and “mowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #447
- “move” frequency rank
- #38,509
- “mowed” frequency rank
- 38956
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | move | mowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To change place or posture; to go, in any manner, from one place or position to another. | simple past and past participle of mow |
Where the eye mixes move and mowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses move with mowed
A purely visual mix-up. move (/muːv/) and mowed (/məʊd/) 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 38956, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
move is recorded at frequency rank #447, classified as averb, pronounced /muːv/. mowed is at rank #38,509, tagged as averb, pronounced /məʊd/.
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 38956, this pair ranks #281,144 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of move vs mowed
Shared letters: emo. Private to "move": v. Private to "mowed": dw.
"move" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "mowed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "move" for "mowed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "move" or "mowed"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "move" and "mowed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "move" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "mowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #281,144 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "move" and "mowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mowed vs Mowers". 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 #281,144 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.