Store or stow?
store is a noun meaning “A place where items may be accumulated or routinely kept”; stow is a verb meaning “To put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in…”. Use store as a noun and stow as a verb (store is also a verb: “To keep (something) while not in use, generally in a place…”). In written English (wordfreq, 2021 data) store is about 91 times as common as stow.
What is the difference between store and stow?
| store | stow | |
|---|---|---|
| Part of speech | noun, verb | noun, verb, interjection |
| Meaning | A place where items may be accumulated or routinely kept A supply held in storage To keep (something) while not in use, generally in a place meant for that purpose | To put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in a suitable place To store or pack something in a space-saving manner and over a long time |
| Example | Near-synonyms: storeroom, stockroom, warehouse, magazine (archaic) | But when I strove my flame to tell, / Says she, 'Come, stow that patter, / If you're a cove wot likes a gal, / Vy don't you stand some… |
| Forms | stores | stows, stowing, stowed |
| Pronunciation | /stɔː/ /stɔɹ/ /sto(ː)ɹ/ | /stəʊ/ /stoʊ/ /stəʉ/ |
| In writing | 105 times per million words | 1.1 times per million words |
Sources: store and stow in the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Every current meaning of store and stow
store
- 1
A place where items may be accumulated or routinely kept
Near-synonyms: storeroom, stockroom, warehouse, magazine (archaic)
- 2
To keep (something) while not in use, generally in a place meant for that purpose
I'll store these books in the attic
- 3
A supply held in storage
Near-synonyms: stock, supply; cache, stash
- 4
To contain
The cabinets store all the food the mice would like
- 5
A building (or portion thereof) where items may be purchased
Dad went to the store to get milk and bread
- 6
Have the capacity and capability to contain
They sell boxes that store 24 mason jars
- 7
datedMemory
The main store of 1000 36-bit words seemed large at the time
- 8
To write (something) into memory or registers
This operation stores the result on the stack
stow
- 1
To put something away in a compact and tidy manner, in its proper place, or in a suitable place
- 2
To store or pack something in a space-saving manner and over a long time
- 3
To arrange, pack, or fill something tightly or closely
- 4
To dispose of, lodge, or hide somebody somewhere
Source: the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0); obsolete, archaic, dialect and rare senses left out.
Which is more common, store or stow?
store appears 105 times per million words; stow 1.1 times per million words.
store 105 times per million wordsstow 1.1 times per million words
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).