Which to use
“show” is a verb and “slow” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #199
- “show” frequency rank
- #1,504
- “slow” frequency rank
- 1703
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | show | slow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | To display, to have somebody see (something). | Taking a long time to move or go a short distance, or to perform an action; not quick in motion; proceeding at a low speed. |
Where the eye mixes show and slow
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: show is /ʃəʊ/ while slow is /sləʊ/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - h in “show” becomes l in “slow”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1703, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
show is recorded at frequency rank #199, classified as averb, pronounced /ʃəʊ/. slow is at rank #1,504, tagged as anadj, pronounced /sləʊ/.
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 1703, this pair ranks #526,853 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of show vs slow
Shared letters: osw. Private to "show": h. Private to "slow": l.
"show" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "slow" · 4 letters · shape CCVC