Which to use
“yong” is an adjective and “yow” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,835
- “yong” frequency rank
- #40,527
- “yow” frequency rank
- 57362
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | yong | yow |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Obsolete spelling of young. | Alternative form of yowe. |
Letter map: yong vs yow
Shared letters muted; letters that set yong and yow apart highlighted. Shared run: 2. yong runs 4 letters (VVCC) against yow's 3 (VVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Role in the sentence - yong and yow
Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: yong is anadjective and yowanoun. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
yong is recorded at frequency rank #16,835, classified as anadj. yow is at rank #40,527, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ðaʊ/.
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 57362, this pair ranks #119,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of yong vs yow
Shared letters: oy. Private to "yong": gn. Private to "yow": w.
"yong" · 4 letters · shape VVCC · "yow" · 3 letters · shape VVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- yong ← oyng · ynog · yogn · yongg · yonng · yyong
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "yong" and "yow" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "yong" or "yow"?
What to do next
Pair "yong" vs "yow" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "yong" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "yow" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #119,832 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "yong" and "yow" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Yau vs yow". 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 #119,832 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.