flew
/fluː/
"flew" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“flew” has 6 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #5,497. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #5,497
- frequency rank, English
- 2,507
- “F” headwords
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - simple past of fly
Corpus desk
Index EN-flew · flew · English
flew · rank #5,497 · 6 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-COMMON #5,497
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-1 1 vowel
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 6 variants
- BOOK-MID 2,507
- PHOTO-FINISH exhibit
Nearest frequency peer: exhibit (-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.
Rank peers near misspelling magnet “flew”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- embrace
embrace
94,507 corpus weight
- emerged
emerged
94,506 corpus weight
- exhibit
exhibit
94,505 corpus weight
- flew
flew
94,504 corpus weight
- gentleman
gentleman
94,503 corpus weight
- GM
GM
94,502 corpus weight
What this shows “flew” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | flew |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /fluː/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #5,497 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “flew”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 6 spelling variants around flew (IPA /fluː/), averb. Corpus frequency is #5,497 among 2,507 “F” headwords. Dominant gloss: "simple past of fly".
Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for flew, with forms such as "felw", "fflew", and "fleww". 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, "FW", "fly", "flu", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English flew, flow, from Old English flēag, flug-, from Proto-Germanic *flaug, *flug-, past tense forms of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”). Compare Saterland Frisian flooch (“flew”), West Frisian fleach (“flew”), Dutch vloog (“flew”), German… The correct English form is flew, spelled F-L-E-W.
Definition
- 1simple past of fly
Etymology
From Middle English flew, flow, from Old English flēag, flug-, from Proto-Germanic *flaug, *flug-, past tense forms of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”). Compare Saterland Frisian flooch (“flew”), West Frisian fleach (“flew”), Dutch vloog (“flew”), German flog (“flew”), Danish fløj (“flew”), Swedish flög (“flew”), Icelandic flaug (“flew”).
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- felw
- fflew
- fleww
- fllew
- flwe
- lfew
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of flew - 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.
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 "flew", 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 (6 here; floor ≥5).