ballotvsBarlowWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: ballot is a noun, Barlow is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ballot” is a noun and “Barlow” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#33,564
“ballot” frequency rank
#39,174
“Barlow” frequency rank
72738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ballot Barlow
Definition Petite balle de marchandises. Nom de famille.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ballot and Barlow apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
ballot
6 ch
Barlow

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ballot is anoun and Barlowaname. On the page they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ballot is recorded at frequency rank #33,564, classified as anoun, pronounced \ba.lo\. Barlow is at rank #39,174, tagged as aname.

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 72738, this pair ranks #42,955 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of ballot vs Barlow

Shared letters: ablo. Private to "ballot": t. Private to "Barlow": rw.

"ballot" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "Barlow" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ballotabllot · ballott · ballto · balolt · balot · bballot · blalot
  • Barlowabrlow · balrow · barllow · barloww · barlwo · barolw · barrlow · bbarlow

Frequency comparison

ballot#33,564
Barlow#39,174

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ballot" and "Barlow" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ballot" is a noun and "Barlow" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ballot" or "Barlow"?
"ballot" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,564 in our French list, against #39,174 for "Barlow". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering ballot vs Barlow

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “ballot”; for a name, it's “Barlow”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “ballot” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list