glow

/ɡləʊ/

//ɡləʊ// verb

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

"glow" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“glow” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #8,151 in English word frequency and used as a verb.

#8,151
frequency rank, English
4
letters
6
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To emit heat and light without a flame.

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

glow vs go
50% similar
glow vs got
50% similar
glow vs god
50% similar

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

Key facts for glow
PropertyValue
Headwordglow
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechVerb
IPA/ɡləʊ/
Letters4
Frequency rank#8,151
Misspellings tracked6
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “glow” sits in English frequency

Every-word frequency runs from the handful of words we use constantly (left) to the long tail used once in a blue moon (right). glow lands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English entry for glow is 4 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɡləʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #8,151 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.

Our generated misspelling index lists 6 likely wrong-spelling variants for glow, with forms such as "gglow", "gllow", and "gloww". 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, "go", "got", "god", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

Etymologically, the entry records: The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, fl… The correct English form is glow, spelled G-L-O-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    To emit heat and light without a flame.
  2. 2
    Of a fire: to emit heat and light.
  3. 3
    To emit light brightly and steadily as if heated to a high temperature; to shine.
  4. 4
    To be very hot; also, to be on fire; to burn.
  5. 5
    Of a colour: to be bright; also, of a thing: to have a bright colour.
  6. 6
    Of a person: to display intense emotion.
  7. 7
    Of a person's body or a part of it: to feel hot and often to flush (“become suffused with a reddish colour”) as well, due to an emotional response, exertion, etc.
  8. 8
    To be involved in an (chiefly online) undercover sting operation, especially by American federal agencies.
  9. 9
    To create a threatening online post that may involve violence, and look suspicious enough to attract a police investigation.
  10. 10
    To emit (flame).
  11. 11
    To expose (someone) to the authorities.
  12. 12
    To make (something) hot; to heat.

Etymology

The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to turn red, flush; etc.”), and then either: * from Old English glōwan (“to glow”) (a strong verb), from Proto-West Germanic *glōan (“to glow”); or * because the Middle English and modern English words are weak verbs, possibly from Old Norse *glówa, thought to be a variant of glóa (“to glow”), also a weak verb; both from Proto-Germanic *glōaną (“to glow”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *ǵʰleh₁- (“to shine, glow; to be shining, glowing”). Possibly a doublet of glass. The noun is derived from the verb. cognates * Dutch gloeien * Finnish loistaa * German glühen * Norwegian glo * Old Norse glóa (Danish glo, Icelandic glóa, Swedish glo) * Saterland Frisian gloie, glöie, gluuje * West Frisian gloeie

This word in other languages

fulgir(Español)briller(Français)glühen(Deutsch)brilhar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as: gglow,gllow,gloww,glwo,golw,lgow

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of glow - 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.

gglow1gllow1gloww1glwo2golw2lgow2
Edit distance from "glow"

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 "glow"?
"glow" is spelled G-L-O-W. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡləʊ/.
What does "glow" mean?
As a verb, "glow" means: To emit heat and light without a flame.
What words are commonly confused with "glow"?
"glow" is commonly confused with "go", "got", "god". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "glow"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "glow" is /ɡləʊ/. 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 "glow"?
The verb is derived from Middle English glouen, glowen (“to give off heat and light without flame; of a thing: to be heated until red hot; to be brightly coloured; to shine brightly; (figurative) to be filled with emotion; of the face, etc.: to tu... 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.

Using “glow”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is G-L-O-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Say it as /ɡləʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
  • Don't mix it up with “go” - see the side-by-side comparison. glow vs go
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list