meadow

/ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/

//ˈmɛd.əʊ̯// noun

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

"meadow" is a 6-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“meadow” has 8 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #13,017. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#13,017
frequency rank, English
4,057
“M” headwords
8
tracked misspellings
6
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - A field or pasture; a piece of land either intentionally cultivated with grass or (especially) naturally covered with grass, especially one that is intended to be mown for hay or to be grazed.

Corpus desk

Index EN-meadow · meadow · English

meadow · rank #13,017 · 8 variants · 6 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #13,017
  • LEN-LONG 6 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 6 pairs
  • VAR-MID 8 variants
  • BOOK-MID 4,057
  • PHOTO-FINISH Marxist

Nearest frequency peer: Marxist (-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 “meadow”

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

corpus weight

What this shows “meadow” 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).

meadow vs meow
67% similar
meadow vs mellow
67% similar
meadow vs Meadows
71% similar

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

Key facts for meadow
PropertyValue
Headwordmeadow
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
IPA/ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/
Letters6
Frequency rank#13,017
Misspellings tracked8
Confusable pairs6
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “meadow”

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).meadowlands here:

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

Scale is logarithmic (each tick is 10× rarer). Same rarity band neighbours include “Marxist” (#13,016), “Meadows” (#13,018), “mare” (#13,015). Among 4,057 “M” headwords, “meadow” is #13,017. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 8 spelling variants around meadow (IPA /ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/), anoun. Corpus frequency is #13,017 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 2 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 8 likely wrong-spelling variants for meadow, with forms such as "emadow", "maedow", and "meaddow". 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 6 confusable-pair relationships, "meow", "mellow", "Meadows", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English medowe, medewe, medwe (also mede > Modern English mead), from Old English mǣdwe, inflected form of mǣd (see mead), from Proto-Germanic *mēdwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂met- (“to mow, reap”), enlargement of *h₂meh₁-. Related to mead (“… The correct English form is meadow, spelled M-E-A-D-O-W.

Definition

  1. 1
    A field or pasture; a piece of land either intentionally cultivated with grass or (especially) naturally covered with grass, especially one that is intended to be mown for hay or to be grazed.
  2. 2
    Low land covered with coarse grass or rank herbage near rivers and in marshy places by the sea.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. alpine meadows
  2. But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. ¶[…]The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window at the old mare feeding in the meadow below by the brook,[…].

Etymology

From Middle English medowe, medewe, medwe (also mede > Modern English mead), from Old English mǣdwe, inflected form of mǣd (see mead), from Proto-Germanic *mēdwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂met- (“to mow, reap”), enlargement of *h₂meh₁-. Related to mead (“meadow”) and to math (“mowed result or area”). More at mow. Related to the following: West Frisian miede, dialectal Dutch made, dialectal German Matte (“mountain pasture”); also Welsh medi, Latin metō, Ancient Greek ἄμητος (ámētos, “reaping”).

This word in other languages

prado(Español)pré(Français)Wiese(Deutsch)prado(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • emadow
  • maedow
  • meaddow
  • meadoww
  • meadwo
  • meaodw
  • medaow
  • mmeadow

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of meadow - 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.

emadow2maedow2meaddow1meadoww1meadwo2meaodw2medaow2mmeadow1
Edit distance from "meadow"

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 "meadow"?
"meadow" is spelled M-E-A-D-O-W. The IPA pronunciation is /ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/.
What does "meadow" mean?
As a noun, "meadow" means: A field or pasture; a piece of land either intentionally cultivated with grass or (especially) naturally covered with grass, especially one that is intended to be mown for hay or to be grazed.
What words are commonly confused with "meadow"?
"meadow" is commonly confused with "meow", "mellow", "Meadows". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "meadow"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "meadow" is /ˈmɛd.əʊ̯/. 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 "meadow"?
From Middle English medowe, medewe, medwe (also mede > Modern English mead), from Old English mǣdwe, inflected form of mǣd (see mead), from Proto-Germanic *mēdwō, from Proto-Indo-European *h₂met- (“to mow, reap”), enlargement of *h₂meh₁-. Related ... 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 "meadow", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked English headwords with 6 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

mystic#13,023Norris#13,026Lawson#13,007knocks#13,005

Similar misspelling depth

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

Kendall8 variantsprick8 variantsForrest8 variantsfooled8 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list