Which to use
“sewed” and “stowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,413
- “sewed” frequency rank
- #37,710
- “stowed” frequency rank
- 71123
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sewed | stowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of sew | simple past and past participle of stow |
Where the eye mixes sewed and stowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sewed runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against stowed's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sewed with stowed
A purely visual mix-up. sewed (/ˈsoʊd/) and stowed (/stəʊd/) 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 71123, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sewed is recorded at frequency rank #33,413, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsoʊd/. stowed is at rank #37,710, tagged as averb, pronounced /stəʊd/.
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 71123, this pair ranks #47,908 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sewed vs stowed
Shared letters: desw. Private to "sewed": -. Private to "stowed": ot.
"sewed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "stowed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "sewed" and "stowed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "sewed" vs "stowed" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "sewed" and "stowed" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sewed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #47,908 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sewed" and "stowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stooped vs stowed". 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 #47,908 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.