rosevsrowWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“rose” and “row” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,614
“rose” frequency rank
#2,498
“row” frequency rank
4112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rose row
Definition A shrub of the genus Rosa, with red, pink, white or yellow flowers. A line of objects, often regularly spaced, such as seats in a theatre, vegetable plants in a garden, etc.

Where the eye mixes rose and row

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
rose
3 ch
row

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. rose (/ɹəʊz/) and row (/ˈɹəʊ/) 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 4112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rose is recorded at frequency rank #1,614, classified as anoun, pronounced /ɹəʊz/. row is at rank #2,498, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈɹəʊ/.

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 4112, this pair ranks #519,961 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of rose vs row

Shared letters: or. Private to "rose": es. Private to "row": w.

"rose" · 4 letters · shape CVCV  ·  "row" · 3 letters · shape CVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • roseorse · roes · rosse · rrose · rsoe

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rose" and "row" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (/ɹəʊz/ versus /ˈɹəʊ/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rose" or "row"?
"rose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,614 in our English list, against #2,498 for "row". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list