throwervsthrowsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“thrower” and “throws” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#33,055
“thrower” frequency rank
#6,303
“throws” frequency rank
39358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature thrower throws
Definition Someone who throws. plural of throw

Letter map: thrower vs throws

Shared letters muted; letters that set thrower and throws apart highlighted. Shared run: 5.

7 ch
thrower
6 ch
throws

Corpus notes: thrower and throws

thrower and throws are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

thrower is recorded at frequency rank #33,055, classified as anoun. throws is at rank #6,303, tagged as anoun, pronounced /θɹəʊz/.

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 39358, this pair ranks #277,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of thrower vs throws

Shared letters: hortw. Private to "thrower": e. Private to "throws": s.

"thrower" · 7 letters · shape CCCVCVC  ·  "throws" · 6 letters · shape CCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • throwerhtrower · thhrower · thorwer · throewr · throwerr · throwre · throwwer · thrrower
  • throwshtrows · thhrows · thorws · throsw · throwss · throwws · thrrows · thrwos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "thrower" and "throws" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "thrower" vs "throws" - which ranks higher?
"throws" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,303 in our English list, against #33,055 for "thrower". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "thrower" and "throws".

  • Full dictionary entry for "thrower" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "throws" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,443 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "thrower" and "throws" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "throes vs thrower". 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 #277,443 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list