Roe or row?
roe is a noun meaning “Eggs of fish”; row is a noun meaning “A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre…”. They sound the same (/ˈɹəʊ/). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) row is about 14 times as common as roe.
What is the difference between roe and row?
| roe | row | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun | noun, verb |
| Meaning | Eggs of fish Sperm of certain fish A mottled appearance of light and shade in wood, especially in mahogany | A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden, etc Specifically, a line of buildings on a street; also, the street itself (especially in street names) To propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars |
| Example | none recorded | to row the captain ashore in his barge |
| Forms | roes | rows |
| Pronunciation | /ˈɹəʊ/ /ˈɹoʊ/ /ɹoʊ/ | /ɹəʊ/ /ɹoʊ/ /ɾo/ |
| In writing | 2.8 times per million words | 40 times per million words |
Sources: roe and row in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of roe and row
roe
- 1
Eggs of fish
- 2
Ellipsis of roe deer
- 3
Initialism of return on equity, a measure of how well a company used reinvested earnings to generate additional earnings
- 4
An individual of the orclike Roegadyn race
- 5
Alternative form of ROE
- 6
Sperm of certain fish
- 7
A mottled appearance of light and shade in wood, especially in mahogany
- 8
Initialism of rule(s) of engagement, a/the rule(s) governing when to fire or return fire
row
- 1
A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden, etc
- 2
To propel (a boat or other craft) over water using oars
- 3
An act or instance of rowing
I went for an early-morning row
- 4
UKA noisy argument
There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row
- 5
To argue noisily
- 6
Initialism of run of week
- 7
Initialism of rest of world
- 8
Specifically, a line of buildings on a street; also, the street itself (especially in street names)
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, roe or row?
roe appears 2.8 times per million words; row 40 times per million words.
roe 2.8 times per million wordsrow 40 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How many people search roe vs row?
“roe vs row” is searched about 10 times a month on Google and 10 on Bing in the United States. Google counts close variants of a query together (“row vs roe”, “roe or row”).
Sources: Google Ads keyword data through DataForSEO and Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, the average month from September 2025 to August 2026.