bower

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"bower" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“bower” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #28,848 in English word frequency and used as a noun.

#28,848
frequency rank, English
5
letters
7
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

bower vs bowl
60% similar
bower vs bows
60% similar
bower vs boxes
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for bower
PropertyValue
Headwordbower
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters5
Frequency rank#28,848
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “bower” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). bower lands here:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for bower is 5 letters long, classified as a noun. Corpus data places it at rank #28,848 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 4 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for bower, with forms such as "bbower", "boewr", and "bowerr". 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, "bowl", "bows", "boxes", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (Danish bur… The correct English form is bower, spelled B-O-W-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
  2. 2
    A dwelling; a picturesque country cottage, especially one that is used as a retreat.
  3. 3
    A shady, leafy shelter or recess in a garden or woods.
  4. 4
    A large structure made of grass, twigs, etc., and decorated with bright objects, used by male bower birds during courtship displays.

Etymology

From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (Danish bur, Norwegian Bokmål bur, Swedish bur).

Synonyms

boudoir

This word in other languages

camarín(Español)boudoir(Français)Boudoir(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: bbower,boewr,bowerr,bowre,bowwer,bwoer,obwer

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of bower - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

bbower1boewr2bowerr1bowre2bowwer1bwoer2obwer2
Edit distance from "bower"

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 "bower"?
"bower" is spelled B-O-W-E-R.
What does "bower" mean?
As a noun, "bower" means: A bedroom or private apartments, especially for a woman in a medieval castle.
What words are commonly confused with "bower"?
"bower" is commonly confused with "bowl", "bows", "boxes". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
What is the origin of the word "bower"?
From Middle English bour, from Old English būr, from Proto-West Germanic *būr, from Proto-Germanic *būrą (“room, abode”). Cognate with Saterland Frisian Búur (“storage room, utility room; cage”), German Bauer (“birdcage”), Old Norse búr (“cage”) (... See the full etymology section above for more details.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “bower”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is B-O-W-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Don't mix it up with “bowl” - see the side-by-side comparison. bower vs bowl
  • 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.

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

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