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PlainSpell

flower

flow·erUK /ˈflaʊ̯.ə/noun, verb

flower is spelled F-L-O-W-E-R: 6 letters and 2 syllables (flow·er). It appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). People search “flour vs flower” about 210 times a month (Google, United States). As a noun, flower means “A colorful, conspicuous structure associated with angiosperms, frequently scented and attracting various insects, and which may or may not be used…” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of flower is flowers.

How many letters and syllables are in flower?

Letters6: F-L-O-W-E-R
Syllables2: flow·er
In writing26 times per million words; the 3,479th most frequent word form
Wrong spellings searchednone measured in search
Pairs people search
Rhymes with
Same letters

Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.

How common is flower?

Flower appears 26 times per million words in written English, the 3,479th 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 flower?

  • UK /ˈflaʊ̯.ə/
  • UK [ˈflaʊ̯.ə]
  • British /ˈflawə/

As a noun (“Something that flows, such as a river”): /ˈfləʊə/, /ˈfloʊɚ/.

Flower has 2 syllables, split flow·er in writing.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-uk-flower.ogg, En-au-flower.ogg, En-us-flower.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).

Words people confuse with flower

Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).

flour vs flower210 G

Also written: flour, flow-er (one word or two).

Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).

What rhymes with flower?

6 words on PlainSpell end in the same sounds as flower from its last stressed vowel (/aʊə/, British pronunciation):

Spelled with the same letters in another order: fowler, reflow, wolfer.

Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).

Forms of flower

  • flowers plural, present, singular, he/she/it
  • flowering participle, present
  • flowered participle, past
  • flow-er

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What does flower mean?

The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).

noun

  1. 1

    A colorful, conspicuous structure associated with angiosperms, frequently scented and attracting various insects, and which may or may not be used for sexual reproduction.

  2. 2

    A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens and/or a pistil.

  3. 3

    A plant that bears flowers, especially a plant that is small and lacks wood.

    We transplanted the flowers to a larger pot.

  4. 4

    The stem of a flowering plant with the blossom or blossoms attached, used for decoration, as a gift, etc.

    He always keeps a vase full of flowers in his office.

  5. 5

    Of plants, a state of bearing blooms.

    The dogwoods are in flower this week.

  6. 6

    The vulva, especially the labia majora.

  7. 7

    The best examples or representatives of a group.

  8. 8

    The best state of things; the prime.

    She was in the flower of her life.

  9. 9

    rareSomething that flows, such as a river.

    Leaving the weavers’ village behind you, and crossing the sandy bed of the Vengavati or ‘Swift-flower,’ which, however, contained not a drop of water, you reach the ancient Jain temple.

verb

  1. 1

    To put forth blooms.

    This plant flowers in June.

  2. 2

    To decorate with pictures of flowers.

  3. 3

    To reach a state of full development or achievement.

    It only needed watering to take root, to flower and to fructify, and the watering came in due course.

  4. 4

    archaicTo froth; to ferment gently, as new beer.

  5. 5

    To come off as flowers by sublimation.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

Flower in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese

LanguageWords
Frenchfleur (reproductive structure in angiosperms), fleurir, s'épanouir (to put forth blooms)
GermanBlüte, Blume (reproductive structure in angiosperms), blühen (to put forth blooms)
Portugueseflor (reproductive structure in angiosperms), florir, florescer (to put forth blooms)
Spanishflor (reproductive structure in angiosperms), florecer, florescer (to put forth blooms)

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.

Where does flower come from?

From Middle English flour, from Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin flōrem, accusative of flōs, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”). Doublet of fleur, flor, flour, bloom, and blossom. Partly displaced native Old English blostma (which is cognate), whence Modern English blossom.

Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).

What to look up after flower