# owe vs owned

> English confusable word pair

## The two words

### owe
*verb · IPA /əʊ/ · frequency rank #5,820*
To be under an obligation to give something back to someone or to perform some action for someone.

### owned
*verb · IPA /əʊnd/ · frequency rank #1,800*
simple past and past participle of own

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/vs/owe-vs-owned