Which to use
“slows” is a verb and “so's” is a contraction - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,491
- “slows” frequency rank
- #38,171
- “so's” frequency rank
- 55662
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slows | so's |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | third-person singular simple present indicative of slow | So that, in order that. |
Letter map: slows vs so's
Shared letters muted; letters that set slows and so's apart highlighted. Shared run: 3. slows runs 5 letters (CCVCC) against so's's 3 (CVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Grammar separator: slows vs so's
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: slows is averb and so'sacontraction. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55662, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
slows is recorded at frequency rank #17,491, classified as averb, pronounced /slaːz/. so's is at rank #38,171, tagged as acontraction.
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 55662, this pair ranks #131,936 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of slows vs so's
Shared letters: os. Private to "slows": lw. Private to "so's": -.
"slows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "so's" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- slows ← lsows · sllows · slosw · slowss · slowws · slwos · solws · sslows
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "slows" for "so's" ever safe?
Frequency check: "slows" vs "so's" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "slows" and "so's".
- Full dictionary entry for "slows" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "so's" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #131,936 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slows" and "so's" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "so's vs suds". 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 #131,936 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.