look away
"look-away" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“look away” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 9
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To ignore something; to pretend not to have seen or noticed something; to avoid dealing with something.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | look away |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| Letters | 9 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “look away” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for look away is 9 letters long, classified as a verb. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "To ignore something; to pretend not to have seen or noticed something; to avoid dealing with something.".
No generated misspelling entries exist for look away in our index, and the word's spelling is regular enough that our generator found nothing worth flagging. We don't track a confusable pairing for this entry, which usually means its spelling is distinct enough that readers don't reach for a similar-looking word instead.
No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is look away, spelled L-O-O-K- -A-W-A-Y.
Definition
- 1To ignore something; to pretend not to have seen or noticed something; to avoid dealing with something.
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “look away”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-O-K- -A-W-A-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- 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.