# fallow

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈfæləʊ/ · frequency rank #35,715

## Definitions
1. Ground ploughed and harrowed but left unseeded for one year.
2. Uncultivated land.
3. The ploughing or tilling of land, without sowing it for a season.

## Etymology
[Alt: A photograph of a ploughed field.]
From Middle English falwe, from Old English fealh, fealg (“fallow land”), from Proto-West Germanic *falgu (compare Saterland Frisian Falge, West Frisian falig, felling, Dutch valg, German Felge), from Proto-Indo-European *polḱéh₂ (“arable land”) (compare Gaulish olca, Russian полоса́ (polosá)).

## Easily confused with
- **flow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-flow)
- **falls** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-falls)
- **follow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-follow)
- **fellow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-fellow)
- **farrow** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-farrow)
- **follows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-follows)
- **fellows** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallow-vs-fellows)
- **fall** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fall-vs-fallow)
- **Falco** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falco-vs-fallow)
- **fallen** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallen-vs-fallow)
- **falcon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/falcon-vs-fallow)
- **Fallon** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallon-vs-fallow)
- **fallout** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/fallout-vs-fallow)

## Common misspellings (7)
`afllow`, `falloww`, `fallwo`, `falolw`, `falow`, `ffallow`, `flalow`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/fallow