Which to use
“lowered” is a verb and “lowery” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,817
- “lowered” frequency rank
- #42,753
- “lowery” frequency rank
- 51570
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lowered | lowery |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | simple past and past participle of lower | Dark and gloomy; threatening; lowering. |
Where the eye mixes lowered and lowery
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. lowered runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against lowery's 6 (CVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses lowered with lowery
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lowered is /ˈloʊɚd/ while lowery is /ˈlaʊəɹi/. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51570, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lowered is recorded at frequency rank #8,817, classified as averb, pronounced /ˈloʊɚd/. lowery is at rank #42,753, tagged as anadj, pronounced /ˈlaʊəɹi/.
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 51570, this pair ranks #164,354 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of lowered vs lowery
Shared letters: elorw. Private to "lowered": d. Private to "lowery": y.
"lowered" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "lowery" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lowered" for "lowery" ever safe?
In ordinary English text, does "lowered" or "lowery" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lowered" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lowery" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #164,354 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lowered" and "lowery" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "leery vs lowery". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #164,354 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.