bow

/bəʊ/

//bəʊ// noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"bow" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bow” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #4,287) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#4,287
frequency rank, English
4,121
“B” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 2, 2026) - A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.

Corpus desk

Index EN-bow · bow · English

bow · rank #4,287 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #4,287
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,121
  • PHOTO-FINISH bat

Nearest frequency peer: bat (-1 rank slots)

Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Frequency neighbourhood for “bow”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “bow” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 2, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bow vs by
33% similar
bow vs BS
0% similar
bow vs br
33% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bow
PropertyValue
Headwordbow
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/bəʊ/
Letters3
Frequency rank#4,287
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “bow” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). bow lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for bow is neighbouring look-alikes ("by", "BS", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /bəʊ/. Frequency #4,287 among 4,121 “B” headwords. 13 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for bow, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "by", "BS", "br", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Booge (“arch, bow, curve”), West Frisian bôge (“arc, arch, bow”), Dutch boog (“arc, arch, bow”), German Bogen (“ar… The correct English form is bow, spelled B-O-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
  2. 2
    A curved bend in a rod or planar surface, or in a linear formation such as a river (see oxbow).
  3. 3
    A rod with horsehair (or an artificial substitute) stretched between the ends, used for playing various stringed musical instruments.
  4. 4
    A stringed instrument (chordophone), consisting of a stick with a single taut cord stretched between the ends, most often played by plucking.
  5. 5
    A type of knot with two loops, used to tie together two cords such as shoelaces or apron strings, and frequently used as decoration, such as in gift-wrapping.
  6. 6
    Anything bent or curved, such as a rainbow.
  7. 7
    The U-shaped piece which goes around the neck of an ox and fastens it to the yoke.
  8. 8
    Either of the arms of a pair of spectacles, running from the side of the lens to behind the wearer's ear.
  9. 9
    Any instrument consisting of an elastic rod, with ends connected by a string, employed for giving reciprocating motion to a drill, or for preparing and arranging hair, fur, etc., used by hatters.
  10. 10
    A crude sort of quadrant formerly used for taking the sun's altitude at sea.
  11. 11
    Two pieces of wood which form the arched forward part of a saddle tree.
  12. 12
    The part of a key that is not inserted into the lock and that is used to turn the key.
  13. 13
    Either of the two handles of a pair of scissors.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how bow appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Holonym: bow and arrow
  2. Bows come in a variety of different shapes, sizes and cultures, and what is true of one, is not necessarily true of another, so we're gonna be stereotyping here, but, in general, a bow is a way of launching a pointy stick at somebody that you don't like.

Etymology

From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Booge (“arch, bow, curve”), West Frisian bôge (“arc, arch, bow”), Dutch boog (“arc, arch, bow”), German Bogen (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Luxembourgish Bou (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Vilamovian böga (“arc, arch, bend, bow, curve”), Yiddish בויגן (boygn, “arc, arch, bow, curve”), Danish bue (“arc, arch, bow, curve”), Faroese, Icelandic bogi (“arch, bow, vault”), Jamtish buga (“bow”), Norwegian Bokmål bue (“arc, arch, bow”), Norwegian Nynorsk boge (“arc, arch, bow”), Swedish båge (“bow”), Crimean Gothic boga (“bow”).

Synonyms

arcbendcurvefiddlestickmusical bow

This word in other languages

arco(Español)arc(Français)Bogen(Deutsch)arco(Português)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of September 2, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "bow"?
"bow" is spelled B-O-W. The IPA pronunciation is /bəʊ/.
What does "bow" mean?
As a noun, "bow" means: A weapon made of a curved piece of wood or other flexible material whose ends are connected by a string, used for shooting arrows.
What words are commonly confused with "bow"?
"bow" is commonly confused with "by", "BS", "br". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "bow"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "bow" is /bəʊ/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "bow"?
From Middle English bowe, from Old English boga, Proto-West Germanic *bogō, from Proto-Germanic *bugô. Cognates Cognate with Saterland Frisian Booge (“arch, bow, curve”), West Frisian bôge (“arc, arch, bow”), Dutch boog (“arc, arch, bow”), German ... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "bow", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

bat#4,286sec#4,268Jon#4,245toy#4,342

What to do next

You've looked up "bow". Here's where to go from here.

  • "bow" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "by". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #4,287 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
  • PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list