Which to use
“strife” is a noun and “strove” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,254
- “strife” frequency rank
- #43,398
- “strove” frequency rank
- 60652
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | strife | strove |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Striving; earnest endeavor; hard work. | simple past of strive |
Where the eye mixes strife and strove
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between strife and strove
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: strife is /stɹaɪf/ while strove is /ˈstɹɔʊv/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60652, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
strife is recorded at frequency rank #17,254, classified as anoun, pronounced /stɹaɪf/. strove is at rank #43,398, tagged as averb, pronounced /ˈstɹɔʊv/.
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 60652, this pair ranks #98,941 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of strife vs strove
Shared letters: erst. Private to "strife": fi. Private to "strove": ov.
"strife" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV · "strove" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "strife" and "strove" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary English text, does "strife" or "strove" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "strife" and "strove" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "strife" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "strove" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,941 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "strife" and "strove" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "stover vs strove". 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 #98,941 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.