growl

/ɡɹaʊl/

//ɡɹaʊl// noun

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

"growl" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“growl” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #24,179. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#24,179
frequency rank, English
2,313
“G” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal.

Corpus desk

Index EN-growl · growl · English

growl · rank #24,179 · 8 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #24,179
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-1 1 vowel
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 2,313
  • PHOTO-FINISH grouse

Nearest frequency peer: grouse (-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 “growl”

Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword

corpus weight

What this shows “growl” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

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

growl vs grown
80% similar
growl vs grows
80% similar
growl vs growth
67% similar

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

Key facts for growl
PropertyValue
Headwordgrowl
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ɡɹaʊl/
Letters5
Frequency rank#24,179
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “growl”

Word frequency stretches from the small set of words we reach for constantly (left) out to the long tail barely used once in a while (right).growllands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “grouse” (#24,178), “gripped” (#24,177), “habitual” (#24,181). Among 2,313 “G” headwords, “growl” is #24,179. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around growl (IPA /ɡɹaʊl/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #24,179 among 2,313 “G” headwords. Wiktionary lists 6 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for growl, with forms such as "ggrowl", "gorwl", and "grolw". 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, "grown", "grows", "growth", 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 groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old Eng… The correct English form is growl, spelled G-R-O-W-L.

Definition

  1. 1
    A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal.
  2. 2
    A similar sound made by a human.
  3. 3
    The rumbling sound made by a human's hungry stomach.
  4. 4
    An aggressive grumbling.
  5. 5
    A low-pitched rumbling sound produced with a wind instrument.
  6. 6
    Death growl

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how growl appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Hardly anything is more intensely disagreeable to one walking along the street, than to hear near his path a low savage growl—the expression of a surly dog's opinion and purpose.
  2. A deep growl was the answer I received, and the bear, for such it was, walked quickly away in the same direction whence he had come.

Etymology

From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or from Old English gryllan, both from Proto-Germanic *gruljaną (“to make a sound; to growl, grumble, rumble”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʰer- (“to make a noise; to mumble, murmur; to rattle; to grind; to rub, stroke”), probably ultimately imitative. The word is cognate with Middle Dutch grollen (“to make a noise; to croak, grumble, murmur; to be angry”) (modern Dutch grollen (“to grumble”)), German grollen (“to rumble; to be angry, bear ill will”), Old English grillan, griellan (“to provoke, offend; to gnash the teeth”). Compare grill. The noun is derived from the verb.

This word in other languages

rugido(Español)feulement(Français)Knurren(Deutsch)ronco(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ggrowl
  • gorwl
  • grolw
  • growll
  • growwl
  • grrowl
  • grwol
  • rgowl

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of growl - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.

ggrowl1gorwl2grolw2growll1growwl1grrowl1grwol2rgowl2
Edit distance from "growl"

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 "growl"?
"growl" is spelled G-R-O-W-L. The IPA pronunciation is /ɡɹaʊl/.
What does "growl" mean?
As a noun, "growl" means: A deep, rumbling, threatening sound made in the throat by an animal.
What words are commonly confused with "growl"?
"growl" is commonly confused with "grown", "grows", "growth". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "growl"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "growl" is /ɡɹaʊl/. 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 "growl"?
From Middle English groulen, grollen, gurlen (“of the bowels: to growl, rumble”), either possibly from Old French groler (variant of croler (“to be agitated, shake”)), grouler, grouller (“to growl, grumble”), from Frankish *grullen, *gruljan or fr... 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.

Similar English words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "growl", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

hater#24,183Grady#24,174Georg#24,165fluke#24,159

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (8 here; floor ≥5).

grouse8 variantshurried8 variantsimpede8 variantsDanube8 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list