harrow
/ˈhæɹəʊ/
"harrow" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“harrow” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #26,107 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #26,107
- frequency rank, English
- 6
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 8
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds; a harrow plow.
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 | harrow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈhæɹəʊ/ |
| Letters | 6 |
| Frequency rank | #26,107 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 8 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “harrow” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for harrow is 6 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈhæɹəʊ/. Corpus data places it at rank #26,107 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 2 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for harrow, with forms such as "ahrrow", "harorw", and "harow". 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 8 confusable-pair relationships, "harry", "horror", "Harris", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; compare Danish harve (“harrow”), Dutch hark (“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses are partl… The correct English form is harrow, spelled H-A-R-R-O-W.
Definition
- 1A device consisting of a heavy framework having several disks or teeth in a row, which is dragged across ploughed land to smooth or break up the soil, to remove weeds or cover seeds; a harrow plow.
- 2An obstacle formed by turning an ordinary harrow upside down, the frame being buried.
Etymology
From Middle English harwe, harow, from Old English *hearwa (perhaps ultimately cognate with harvest), or from Old Norse harfr/herfi; compare Danish harve (“harrow”), Dutch hark (“rake”). Akin to Latin carpere. According to the OED, the verb senses are partly derived from the noun sense, partly from a by-form of the verb harry, itself from Old English hergian.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ahrrow,harorw,harow,harroww,harrwo,hharrow,hrarow
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of harrow - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.
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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Using “harrow”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is H-A-R-R-O-W - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈhæɹəʊ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “harry” - see the side-by-side comparison. harrow vs harry
- 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.