flew
/fluː/noun, adjective, verb
flew is spelled F-L-E-W: 4 letters and one syllable. It appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, flew means “The thick, dangling upper lip of certain breeds of dog, or the canine equivalent of the upper lip” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flew is flews.
How many letters and syllables are in flew?
| Letters | 4: F-L-E-W |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 1 (from its American pronunciation) |
| In writing | 14 times per million words; the 5,496th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Sounds like |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation and the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How common is flew?
Flew appears 14 times per million words in written English, the 5,496th most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce flew?
- /fluː/
- /fluʊ̯/
- /fljuː/
Flew has one syllable (counted from its American pronunciation in the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-flew.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with flew
Sounds like: flu, flue (Wiktionary's homophone list; some hold only in some accents).
Also written: flue.
Sources: English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
Forms of flew
- flews plural
- more flew comparative
- most flew superlative
- flue
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does flew mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The thick, dangling upper lip of certain breeds of dog, or the canine equivalent of the upper lip.
The raging hound's flews were twisted upwards in an angry snarl.
adjective
- 1
UKshallow; flat
verb
- 1
simple past of fly
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does flew come from?
Unknown.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).