snorevssnowsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: snore is a verb, snows is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#39,095
“snore” frequency rank
#30,234
“snows” frequency rank
69329
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature snore snows
Definition To breathe during sleep with harsh, snorting noises caused by vibration of the soft palate. One or both regions of the Earth where it snows the year round; the Arctic and/or Antarctic.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set snore and snows apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
snore
5 ch
snows

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: snore is /snɔː/ while snows is /snəʊz/. 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 69329, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

snore is recorded at frequency rank #39,095, classified as averb, pronounced /snɔː/. snows is at rank #30,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced /snəʊz/.

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 69329, this pair ranks #55,035 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of snore vs snows

Shared letters: nos. Private to "snore": er. Private to "snows": w.

"snore" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "snows" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • snorensore · snnore · snoer · snorre · snroe · sonre · ssnore
  • snowsnsows · snnows · snosw · snowss · snowws · snwos · sonws · ssnows

Frequency comparison

snore#39,095
snows#30,234

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "snore" and "snows" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "snore" is a verb and "snows" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "snore" or "snows"?
"snows" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,234 in our English list, against #39,095 for "snore". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering snore vs snows

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list