skew vs slaw, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“skew” is a verb and “slaw” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,725
“skew” frequency rank: #47,911
“slaw” frequency rank: 76636
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	skew	slaw
Definition	To form or shape in an oblique way; to cause to take an oblique position.	Coleslaw.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set skew and slaw apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

skew

4 ch

slaw

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: skew is /skjuː/ while slaw is /slɔː/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

skew is recorded at frequency rank #28,725, classified as averb, pronounced /skjuː/. slaw is at rank #47,911, tagged as anoun, pronounced /slɔː/.

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 76636, this pair ranks #29,539 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of skew vs slaw

Shared letters: sw. Private to "skew": ek. Private to "slaw": al.

"skew" · 4 letters · shape CCVC · "slaw" · 4 letters · shape CCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

skew ← ksew · sekw · skeww · skkew · skwe · sskew
slaw ← lsaw · salw · slaww · sllaw · slwa · sslaw

Frequency comparison

skew#28,725

slaw#47,911

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "skew" and "slaw" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "skew" is a verb and "slaw" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "skew" or "slaw"?

"skew" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,725 in our English list, against #47,911 for "slaw". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering skew vs slaw

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “skew”; for a noun, it's “slaw”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “skew” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable