scow
/skaʊ/
"scow" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“scow” is uncommon English (frequency #96,454 among 54,294 “S” headwords), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.
- #96,454
- frequency rank, English
- 54,294
- “S” headwords
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large flat-bottomed boat, having broad, square ends.
Corpus desk
Index EN-scow · scow · English
scow · rank #96,454 · 0 variants · 0 confusables
- FREQ-RARE #96,454
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-0 No pairs
- VAR-0 0 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 54,294
- PHOTO-FINISH Scio
Nearest frequency peer: Scio (-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 “scow”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- sauter
sauter
3,553 corpus weight
- Scio
Scio
3,548 corpus weight
- scow
scow
3,547 corpus weight
- scrimp
scrimp
3,546 corpus weight
- scrutinising
scrutinising
3,545 corpus weight
- scupper
scupper
3,543 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “scow” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | scow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /skaʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #96,454 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “scow” sits in English frequency
Rare enough to double-check
scow is uncommon English at frequency #96,454 among 54,294 “S” headwords, classed as anoun, transcribed /skaʊ/. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "A large flat-bottomed boat, having broad, square ends.".
No misspelling variants are generated for scow in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. Our dataset records no confusable match here, suggesting its spelling stands apart enough that readers rarely confuse it with something else.
Etymologically, the entry records: Borrowed from Dutch schouw. The correct English form is scow, spelled S-C-O-W.
Definition
- 1A large flat-bottomed boat, having broad, square ends.
Etymology
Borrowed from Dutch schouw.
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 May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "scow", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
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.