meow
/miˈaʊ/
"meow" is a 4-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“meow” has 5 generated spelling variants in the English index at frequency #19,903. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #19,903
- frequency rank, English
- 4,057
- “M” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Used to indicate the cry of a cat.
Corpus desk
Index EN-meow · meow · English
meow · rank #19,903 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #19,903
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-2 2 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-MID 4,057
- PHOTO-FINISH mer
Nearest frequency peer: mer (+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 “meow”
Same rarity band: useful when a typo lands on a peer headword
- McQueen
McQueen
80,102 corpus weight
- mediator
mediator
80,101 corpus weight
- Mein
Mein
80,100 corpus weight
- meow
meow
80,098 corpus weight
- mer
mer
80,097 corpus weight
- mirage
mirage
80,095 corpus weight
What this shows “meow” sits among these FrequencyWords peers; misspelling depth is tracked separately in the edit-distance chart.
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 | meow |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Interjection |
| IPA | /miˈaʊ/ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #19,903 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Frequency seat of misspelling magnet “meow”
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around meow (IPA /miˈaʊ/), aninterjection. Corpus frequency is #19,903 among 4,057 “M” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for meow, with forms such as "emow", "meoww", and "mewo". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "MO", "MW", "mom", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen … The correct English form is meow, spelled M-E-O-W.
Definition
- 1Used to indicate the cry of a cat.
- 2Used in reply to a spiteful or catty comment.
- 3Used to express seductiveness, mimicking a growl.
Recorded use
Wiktionary exampleThese source excerpts show how meow appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
“The last thing they had seen in 2012 before that break was a short from Simon’s Cat called ‘Cat Man Do,’” said Lamothe. “When you leave 800 people in the dark, they will do something. That’s what Fantasia is. But because they had just seen that cat go meow, they meowed.”
Etymology
Alteration of earlier mew, from Middle English mewen, mouwen (“to mew, meow”), of onomatopoeic origin. Compare Saterland Frisian mauje, miauje (“to meow”), West Frisian miaukje (“to meow”), Dutch miauwen (“to meow”), Middle Low German mauwen, mawen, mouwen (“to meow”) (whence modern German Low German mauen, miauen (“to meow”)), Middle High German mouen, modern German miauen (“to meow”). Some spellings were modelled on French miaou. Meow and its spelling variants entered widespread currency in the 19th century, mostly replacing mew, possibly because phonetic change meant that word had ceased to approximate a cat's cry (contrast the pronunciation of Middle English mewen /ˈmɛu̯ən/ compared to modern /ˈmjuː/). (mephedrone): Perhaps because of the drug's distinctive smell resembling cat urine.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- emow
- meoww
- mewo
- mmeow
- moew
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of meow - 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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Similar English words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "meow", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked English headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).