dew

/d͡ʒuː/

//d͡ʒuː// noun

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

"dew" is a 3-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“dew” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #14,511) as a noun. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#14,511
frequency rank, English
3,470
“D” headwords
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.

Corpus desk

Index EN-dew · dew · English

dew · rank #14,511 · 0 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #14,511
  • LEN-MID 3 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-0 0 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,470
  • PHOTO-FINISH detecting

Nearest frequency peer: detecting (-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 “dew”

Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)

corpus weight

What this shows Bars show where “dew” sits against the nearest ranked English headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

dew vs do
33% similar
dew vs Dr
0% similar
dew vs di
33% similar

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

Key facts for dew
PropertyValue
Headworddew
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/d͡ʒuː/
Letters3
Frequency rank#14,511
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “dew” sits in English frequency

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).dewlands here:

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

Ticks step logarithmically, so each one marks a roughly tenfold drop in how often the word turns up. Same rarity band neighbours include “detecting” (#14,510), “dickens” (#14,512), “dependency” (#14,509). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for dew is neighbouring look-alikes ("do", "Dr", …), not just typos; it is anoun pronounced /d͡ʒuː/. Frequency #14,511 among 3,470 “D” headwords. 5 recorded senses keep meaning in play.

dew doesn't appear in our generated misspelling index, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "do", "Dr", "di", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”). Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou. Doublet … The correct English form is dew, spelled D-E-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
  2. 2
    Moisture in the air that settles on plants, etc in the morning or evening, resulting in drops.
  3. 3
    An instance of such moisture settling on plants, etc.
  4. 4
    Anything that falls lightly and in a refreshing manner.
  5. 5
    An emblem of morning, or fresh vigour.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how dew appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. And Gideon said vnto God, If thou wilt saue Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Beholde, I will put a fleece of wooll in the floore: and if the deaw be on the fleece onely, and it bee drie vpon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt saue Israel by my hande, as thou hast said. And it was so: for he rose vp early on the morrow, and thrus…
  2. As therefore the morning devv, is a pavvne of the evenings fatneſſe, ſo, O Lord, let this daies comfort be the earneſt of to morrowes, […]

Etymology

From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”). Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou. Doublet of dag.

This word in other languages

rocío(Español)rosée(Français)Tau(Deutsch)orvalho(Português)

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 "dew"?
"dew" is spelled D-E-W. The IPA pronunciation is /d͡ʒuː/.
What does "dew" mean?
As a noun, "dew" means: Any moisture from the atmosphere condensed by cool bodies upon their surfaces.
What words are commonly confused with "dew"?
"dew" is commonly confused with "do", "Dr", "di". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "dew"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "dew" is /d͡ʒuː/. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What is the origin of the word "dew"?
From Middle English dew, from Old English dēaw (“dew”), from Proto-West Germanic *dauw, from Proto-Germanic *dawwaz, *dawwą (“dew, moisture”), from Proto-Indo-European *dʰewh₂- (“smoke, haze”). Cognate with German Tau, Dutch dauw and Afrikaans dou... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "dew", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 3 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

fam#14,533FYI#14,548Ang#14,464AMD#14,462

What to do next

You've looked up "dew". Here's where to go from here.

  • "dew" maps to 20 confusable pairs in this vintage; the highest-scored is "do". View pair
  • Usage frequency rank #14,511 among English headwords in this corpus. Corpus statistics
  • Browse more English words in the "D" letter cohort. D–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.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list