towards
to·wards/təˈwɔːdz/preposition, adverb, adjective
towards is spelled T-O-W-A-R-D-S, 2 syllables: to·wards. The wrong spelling people search most is torwards: about 40 Bing searches a month in the United States (September 2025 to August 2026), about 1 in 20 of all searches for the word. Towards is a preposition meaning “Alternative form of toward”.
How many letters and syllables are in towards?
| Letters | 7: T-O-W-A-R-D-S |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: to·wards |
| In writing | 115 times per million words; the 932nd most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | 2; the most searched, torwards, about 40 Bing searches a month (all of them) |
| Pairs people search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media); Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026).
How do you spell towards?
Towards is spelled T-O-W-A-R-D-S. 2 wrong spellings are searched or written often enough to measure; together they are about 1 in 16 of the searches for towards in either form.
Bing searches in the United States: the average month from September 2025 to August 2026 (Microsoft Advertising keyword data through DataForSEO, read September 30, 2026). Wrong spellings are taken from Wiktionary entries tagged "misspelling" and its obsolete or nonstandard forms, Wikipedia's Lists of common misspellings and the codespell dictionary, then measured. The proofreader's marks show the change that corrects each one.
How common is towards?
Towards appears 115 times per million words in written English, the 932nd most frequent word form in the list.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
How do you pronounce towards?
- UK /təˈwɔːdz/
- UK [tʰə̥ˈwɔːdz]
- /ˈtɔːdz/
Towards has 2 syllables, split to·wards in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-towards.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
Words people confuse with towards
Word pairs people search, with the monthly searches for “a vs b” (G: Google, B: Bing, United States).
Also written: toward.
Sources: Google and Bing searches (September 2025 to August 2026, through DataForSEO); English Wiktionary (homophones, alternative spellings).
What does towards mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
preposition
- 1
Alternative form of toward.
adverb
- 1
In the direction of something (indicated by context).
adjective
- 1
Near; at hand; in state of preparation; toward.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does towards come from?
From Middle English towardes, from Old English tōweardes, tōwærdes, equivalent to toward + -s (adverbial suffix).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).