sow
/saʊ/noun, verb
sow is spelled S-O-W: 3 letters and one syllable. It appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “sew vs sow” about 1,000 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, sow means “A female pig” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of sow is sows; Wiktionary also lists swine (archaic).
How many letters and syllables are in sow?
| Letters | 3: S-O-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 2.4 times per million words; the 17,587th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Pairs people search | |
| Sounds like | |
| Rhymes with |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is sow?
Sow appears 2.4 times per million words in written English, the 17,587th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce sow?
- US /saʊ/
As a verb (“To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds)”): /səʊ/, /soʊ/.
Sow has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-sow-noun.ogg, En-us-sow-verb.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with sow
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Sounds like: sough (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What rhymes with sow?
The 12 most written words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as sow from its last stressed vowel (/aʊ/):
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of sow
- sows plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- sowing participle, present
- sowed past
- sown participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does sow mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A female pig.
- 2
A female bear; she-bear.
- 3
A female guinea pig.
- 4
derogatoryslangA contemptible, often fat woman.
- 5
Clipping of sowbug.
- 6
A channel that conducts molten metal to molds.
- 7
A mass of metal solidified in a mold.
- 8
A kind of covered shed, formerly used by besiegers in filling up and passing the ditch of a besieged place, sapping and mining the wall, etc.
verb
- 1
To scatter, disperse, or plant (seeds).
When I had sown the field, the day's work was over.
- 2
To spread abroad; to propagate.
as you sow, so shall you reap
- 3
To scatter over; to besprinkle.
- 4
obsoleteObsolete spelling of sew.
noun
- 1
Initialism of statement of work (“a document in project management, including deliverables and timelines”).
- 2
Initialism of standoff weapon.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Sow in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
| Language | Words |
|---|---|
| French | truie , semer |
| German | Sau, Mutterschwein , säen |
| Portuguese | porca , semear |
| Spanish | cerda, marrana, puerca , sembrar, sementar |
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does sow come from?
From Middle English sowe, from Old English sugu, from Proto-West Germanic *sugu, from Proto-Germanic *sugō, probably from Proto-Indo-European *su(H)kéh₂, from *suH- (“pig”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).