lowering
/ˈləʊ.ə.ɹɪŋ/
"lowering" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“lowering” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #9,915 in English word frequency and used as a verb.
- #9,915
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 12
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - present participle and gerund of lower
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 | lowering |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ˈləʊ.ə.ɹɪŋ/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #9,915 |
| Misspellings tracked | 12 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “lowering” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for lowering is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈləʊ.ə.ɹɪŋ/. Corpus data places it at rank #9,915 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. The dominant gloss from Wiktionary reads: "present participle and gerund of lower".
Our generated misspelling index lists 12 likely wrong-spelling variants for lowering, with forms such as "llowering", "loewring", and "loweirng". 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 3 confusable-pair relationships, "loring", "layering", "loitering", since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: c. 1600, "descend, sink, grow less or lower" (intransitive), from lower (adj.), comparative of low (adj.). Transitive meaning "let down, cause to descend" attested from 1650s. Related: Lowered; lowering. In the transitive sense "to cause to descend" the old… The correct English form is lowering, spelled L-O-W-E-R-I-N-G.
Definition
- 1present participle and gerund of lower
Etymology
c. 1600, "descend, sink, grow less or lower" (intransitive), from lower (adj.), comparative of low (adj.). Transitive meaning "let down, cause to descend" attested from 1650s. Related: Lowered; lowering. In the transitive sense "to cause to descend" the older verb was low. From Middle English lahghenn, (c. 1200), which continued in use into the 18c.
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: llowering,loewring,loweirng,lowerign,loweringg,lowerinng,lowernig,lowerring,lowreing,lowwering,lwoering,olwering
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of lowering - 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.
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 “lowering”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is L-O-W-E-R-I-N-G - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈləʊ.ə.ɹɪŋ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “loring” - see the side-by-side comparison. lowering vs loring
- 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.