Sew vs Sow
Sew and sow are two words in English language that are completely different in meaning and usage. However, they confuse many because of the fact that they are homonyms and students of English language fail to pick up the right word when they hear these two words. This article takes a closer look at sew and sow that have different meaning but same pronunciations.
Sew
Sew is a word that describes the act of sewing, an art that makes use of needles and threads to stitch two pieces of cloth together. You sew when you use a needle and thread or a machine to stitch fabrics. Sewing is done, not just to make new items of clothing, but also to repair apparels. Whenever you think you have heard the word sew, look for other words in the sentence. They must be talking about clothes and stitching of apparels, mostly.
Sow
Sow is a word that refers to the act of spreading seeds in a field. Sowing is done in the hope of reaping a crop later on. Sowing is the present tense while sowed is the past tense of this verb that is very important for the farmers. Whenever you think you have heard the word sow, look for the clues of fields, crops, and farmers etc. to confirm it. A farmer sows the seeds and reaps crops in the future.
What is the difference between Sew and Sow?
• Sew is a verb that refers to the act of stitching fabrics whereas sow refers to the act of planting seeds in a field.
• You reap what you sow means you get results according to your deeds.
• Sew is what you do using needles and threads while sow is what you do with seeds while planting in fields.
• If there are words like clothes, stitching, needles, thread, garments etc., you can be sure you have heard sew.
• When you hear words like crop, farmer, fields, etc., you have heard sow and not sew.
Correct but slightly incomplete. One may also sow discord, for instance, not only things related to agriculture and crops. Use of the word in such a way may confuse ESL students not aware that such a usage exists.
Um…Davyd, what you said is a bit confusing for me…I don’t know what some words mean in your comment, like: discord, agriculture, and ESL. I’m not a very big kid yet, so that’s probaly why I don’t know some of the words, sorry about that. Could you please rewrite your comment in more common words, or explain the words I listed earlier? Thanks!