Which to use
“thawed” and “towed” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,422
- “thawed” frequency rank
- #17,737
- “towed” frequency rank
- 59159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | thawed | towed |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of thaw | simple past and past participle of tow |
Where the eye mixes thawed and towed
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses thawed with towed
A purely visual mix-up. thawed (/θɔːd/) and towed (/toʊd/) 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 59159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
thawed is recorded at frequency rank #41,422, classified as averb, pronounced /θɔːd/. towed is at rank #17,737, tagged as averb, pronounced /toʊd/.
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 59159, this pair ranks #107,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of thawed vs towed
Shared letters: detw. Private to "thawed": ah. Private to "towed": o.
"thawed" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC · "towed" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "thawed" and "towed" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "thawed" vs "towed" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "thawed" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "towed" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #107,924 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "thawed" and "towed" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "teared vs thawed". 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 #107,924 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.