wot vs wove, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#28,090
“wot” frequency rank: #49,728
“wove” frequency rank: 77818
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	wot	wove
Definition	To know (in the sense of knowing a fact).	simple past of weave

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set wot and wove apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

wot

4 ch

wove

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. wot (/wɔt/) and wove (/wəʊv/) 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 77818, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

wot is recorded at frequency rank #28,090, classified as averb, pronounced /wɔt/. wove is at rank #49,728, tagged as averb, pronounced /wəʊv/.

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 77818, this pair ranks #26,195 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of wot vs wove

Shared letters: ow. Private to "wot": t. Private to "wove": ev.

"wot" · 3 letters · shape CVC · "wove" · 4 letters · shape CVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

wove ← owve · woev · wovve · wvoe · wwove

Frequency comparison

wot#28,090

wove#49,728

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "wot" and "wove" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (/wɔt/ versus /wəʊv/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "wot" or "wove"?

"wot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,090 in our English list, against #49,728 for "wove". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering wot vs wove

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “wot” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable