Which to use
“own” is an adjective and “OWS” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #178
- “own” frequency rank
- #48,950
- “OWS” frequency rank
- 49128
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | own | OWS |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Belonging to; possessed; acquired; proper to; property of; titled to; held in one's name; under/using the name of. Often marks a possessive determiner as reflexive, referring back to the subject of the clause or sentence. | Initialism of Occupy Wall Street: a protest movement that began in 2011 in New York City's Wall Street financial district, primarily opposing social and economic inequality, greed, corruption and the influence of corporations on government. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set own and OWS apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
own and OWS form a confusable pair in the English index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - n in “own” becomes s in “OWS” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49128, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
own is recorded at frequency rank #178, classified as anadj, pronounced /əʊn/. OWS is at rank #48,950, tagged as aname.
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 49128, this pair ranks #186,556 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "own" and "OWS" be used interchangeably?
Remembering own vs OWS
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “own”; for a name, it's “OWS”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “own” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable