Which to use
“sore” is an adjective and “sowed” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,289
- “sore” frequency rank
- #47,920
- “sowed” frequency rank
- 55209
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sore | sowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causing pain or discomfort; painfully sensitive. | simple past and past participle of sow |
Where the eye mixes sore and sowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sore runs 4 letters (CVCV) against sowed's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses sore with sowed
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: sore is /sɔː/ while sowed is /səʊd/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sore is recorded at frequency rank #7,289, classified as anadj, pronounced /sɔː/. sowed is at rank #47,920, tagged as averb, pronounced /səʊd/.
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 55209, this pair ranks #135,331 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sore vs sowed
Shared letters: eos. Private to "sore": r. Private to "sowed": dw.
"sore" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "sowed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sore" for "sowed" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sore" or "sowed"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sore" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,331 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sore" and "sowed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sone vs sowed". 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 #135,331 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.