Which to use
“sown” and “spawn” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,976
- “sown” frequency rank
- #17,724
- “spawn” frequency rank
- 48700
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sown | spawn |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | past participle of sow | To produce or deposit (eggs) in water. |
Where the eye mixes sown and spawn
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between sown and spawn
A purely visual mix-up. sown (/soʊn/) and spawn (/spɔːn/) 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 48700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sown is recorded at frequency rank #30,976, classified as averb, pronounced /soʊn/. spawn is at rank #17,724, tagged as averb, pronounced /spɔːn/.
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 48700, this pair ranks #190,577 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sown vs spawn
Shared letters: nsw. Private to "sown": o. Private to "spawn": ap.
"sown" · 4 letters · shape CVCC · "spawn" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sown" for "spawn" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sown" vs "spawn" - 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 "sown" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spawn" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #190,577 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sown" and "spawn" 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 #190,577 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.