blow
/bləʊ/
"blow" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“blow” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #2,516. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #2,516
- frequency rank, English
- 4,121
- “B” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - To produce an air current.
Corpus desk
Index EN-blow · blow · English
blow · rank #2,516 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #2,516
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,121
- PHOTO-FINISH bell
Nearest frequency peer: bell (-1 rank slots)
Read with this headword: Spelling guide for this pattern
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “blow”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- aside
aside
97,488 corpus weight
- assistance
assistance
97,487 corpus weight
- bell
bell
97,486 corpus weight
- blow
blow
97,485 corpus weight
- bond
bond
97,484 corpus weight
- boyfriend
boyfriend
97,483 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “blow” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
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 | blow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /bləʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #2,516 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “blow” sits in English frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around blow (IPA /bləʊ/), averb. Corpus frequency is #2,516 among 4,121 “B” headwords. Wiktionary lists 33 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for blow, with forms such as "bblow", "bllow", and "bloww". 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, "bo", "BW", "boy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Lati… The correct English form is blow, spelled B-L-O-W.
Definition
- 1To produce an air current.
- 2To propel by an air current (or, if under water, a water current), usually with the mouth.
- 3To be propelled by an air current.
- 4To direct or move, usually of a person to a particular location.
- 5To create or shape by blowing.
- 6To force a current of air upon with the mouth, or by other means.
- 7To clear of contents by forcing air through.
- 8To cause to make sound by blowing (as a musical instrument).
- 9To make a sound as a result of being blown.
- 10To exhale visibly through the spout the seawater which it has taken in while feeding.
- 11To burst or explode; to occur suddenly
- 12To cause to explode, shatter, or be utterly destroyed.
- 13To cause the sudden destruction of.
- 14To blow from a gun (method of executing a person).
- 15To suddenly fail or give way destructively.
- 16To melt away because of overcurrent, creating a gap in a wire, thus stopping a circuit from operating.
- 17To recklessly squander.
- 18To fail at; to mess up; to make a mistake in.
- 19To be very undesirable.
- 20To perform oral sex on (someone); to fellate.
- 21To leave, especially suddenly or in a hurry.
- 22To leave the Church of Scientology in an unauthorized manner.
- 23To make flyblown; to defile or spoil, especially with fly eggs.
- 24(of a fly) To lay eggs; to breed (in flesh or meat).
- 25To spread by report; to publish; to disclose.
- 26To inflate, as with pride; to puff up.
- 27To breathe hard or quick; to pant; to puff.
- 28To put out of breath; to cause to blow from fatigue.
- 29To talk loudly; boast; brag.
- 30To slander, insult, critique or discredit (someone); to reprimand or scold (someone).
- 31To expose, or inform on.
- 32To sing.
- 33To flatulate or defecate.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how blow appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Lear. Blow windes, & crack your cheeks; Rage, blow / You Cataracts, and Hyrricano's ſpout,
Tend to th' Maſters whiſtle: Blow till thou burſt thy winde, if roome enough.
Etymology
From Middle English blowen, from Old English blāwan (“to blow, breathe, inflate, sound”), from Proto-West Germanic *blāan, from Proto-Germanic *blēaną (“to blow”) (compare German blähen), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₁- (“to swell, blow up”) (compare Latin flō (“to blow”) and Old Armenian բեղուն (bełun, “fertile”)).
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- bblow
- bllow
- bloww
- blwo
- lbow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of blow - 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
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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "blow", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
What to do next
You've looked up "blow". Here's where to go from here.
- "blow" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "bo". View pair
- 5 edit-distance misspelling variants are generated for spell-check research on this headword. See variants
- Usage frequency rank #2,516 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
- Browse more English words in the "B" letter cohort. B–Z browse
- PlainSpell rotates a curated Word of the Day from the English corpus, a passive way to discover vocabulary. Word of the Day
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.
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.