Which to use
“sowing” and “sown” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,099
- “sowing” frequency rank
- #30,976
- “sown” frequency rank
- 60075
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sowing | sown |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | present participle and gerund of sow | past participle of sow |
Where the eye mixes sowing and sown
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. sowing runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against sown's 4 (CVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: sowing vs sown
A purely visual mix-up. sowing (/ˈsəʊɪŋ/) and sown (/soʊn/) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60075, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sowing is recorded at frequency rank #29,099, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈsəʊɪŋ/. sown is at rank #30,976, tagged as averb, pronounced /soʊn/.
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 60075, this pair ranks #102,337 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sowing vs sown
Shared letters: nosw. Private to "sowing": gi. Private to "sown": -.
"sowing" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "sown" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sowing" for "sown" ever safe?
Which is more common, "sowing" or "sown"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "sowing" and "sown" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "sowing" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sown" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #102,337 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sowing" and "sown" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "soca vs sown". 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 #102,337 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.