AWOL
/ˈeɪ̯.wɔl/
"awol" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“AWOL” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #41,519 in English word frequency and used as an adjective.
- #41,519
- frequency rank, English
- 4
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Absent without official leave (permission).
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | AWOL |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Adjective |
| IPA | /ˈeɪ̯.wɔl/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #41,519 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “AWOL” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for AWOL is 4 letters long, classified as an adjective, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈeɪ̯.wɔl/. Corpus data places it at rank #41,519 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "Absent without official leave (permission).".
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for AWOL, with forms such as "aowl", "awlo", and "awoll". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "aww", "AWS", "axel", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Acronym of absent without official leave, originally used in the United States military. The correct English form is AWOL, spelled A-W-O-L.
Definition
- 1Absent without official leave (permission).
Etymology
Acronym of absent without official leave, originally used in the United States military.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: aowl,awlo,awoll,awwol,waol
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of AWOL - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "AWOL"?
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Using “AWOL”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is A-W-O-L - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈeɪ̯.wɔl/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “aww” - see the side-by-side comparison. AWOL vs aww
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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.