Which to use
“sowed” and “stowed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,920
- “sowed” frequency rank
- #37,710
- “stowed” frequency rank
- 85630
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sowed | stowed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of sow | simple past and past participle of stow |
Where the eye mixes sowed and stowed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. sowed runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against stowed's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sowed vs stowed
A purely visual mix-up. sowed (/səʊd/) and stowed (/stəʊd/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 85630, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sowed is recorded at frequency rank #47,920, classified as averb, pronounced /səʊd/. stowed is at rank #37,710, tagged as averb, pronounced /stəʊd/.
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 85630, this pair ranks #10,092 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sowed vs stowed
Shared letters: deosw. Private to "sowed": -. Private to "stowed": t.
"sowed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "stowed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sowed" for "stowed" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sowed" vs "stowed" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "sowed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stowed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #10,092 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sowed" and "stowed" 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 #10,092 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.