lorry
/ˈlɒɹi/
"lorry" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lorry” is a moderately-common English word, ranked #22,143 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #22,143
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 6
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck
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 | lorry |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈlɒɹi/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #22,143 |
| Misspellings tracked | 6 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lorry” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lorry is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈlɒɹi/. Corpus data places it at rank #22,143 in overall English word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 5 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 lorry, with forms such as "llorry", "lorryy", and "lory". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "loy", "lowry", "lousy", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Etymologically, the entry records: Uncertain; perhaps from dialectal English lurry (“to lug or pull about, drag”) (compare dialectal lurry-cart), or from the forename Laurie. First attested in early to middle 19th century. The correct English form is lorry, spelled L-O-R-R-Y.
Definition
- 1A large and heavy motor vehicle designed to carry goods or soldiers; a truck
- 2A truck with an open carriage, sometimes used for transporting construction workers.
- 3A barrow or truck for shifting baggage, as at railway stations.
- 4A small cart or wagon used on the tramways in mines to carry coal or rubbish.
- 5A large, low, horse-drawn, four-wheeled cart without sides; also, a similar wagon modified for use on railways.
Etymology
Uncertain; perhaps from dialectal English lurry (“to lug or pull about, drag”) (compare dialectal lurry-cart), or from the forename Laurie. First attested in early to middle 19th century.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: llorry,lorryy,lory,loryr,lrory,olrry
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lorry - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
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 “lorry”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-R-R-Y - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈlɒɹi/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “loy” - see the side-by-side comparison. lorry vs loy
- 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.