towel
tow·el/ˈtaʊ̯əl/noun, verb
towel is spelled T-O-W-E-L: 5 letters and 2 syllables (tow·el). It appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th most frequent word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). As a noun, towel means “A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of towel is towels.
How many letters and syllables are in towel?
| Letters | 5: T-O-W-E-L |
|---|---|
| Syllables | 2: tow·el |
| In writing | 8.7 times per million words; the 7,797th most frequent word form |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
| Same letters |
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); rhymes and same-letter words are computed by PlainSpell from its own word list.
How common is towel?
Towel appears 8.7 times per million words in written English, the 7,797th 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 towel?
- US /ˈtaʊ̯əl/
- US [ˈtʰaʊ̯l̩]
- /ˈtæʊ̯əl/
Towel has 2 syllables, split tow·el in writing.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Recordings: En-us-towel.ogg, En-uk-towel.ogg, Wikimedia Commons (author and licence on each file's page).
What rhymes with towel?
No other word on PlainSpell ends in the same sounds as towel (/aʊəl/).
Spelled with the same letters in another order: owlet.
Computed by PlainSpell from the pronunciations in the English Wiktionary (dump of September 2, 2026): a rhyme shares every sound from the last stressed vowel to the end; ordered by written frequency (wordfreq 3.1).
Forms of towel
- towels plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- toweling US, participle, present
- towelling UK, participle, present
- toweled US, participle, past
- towelled UK, participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does towel mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
A cloth used for wiping, especially one used for drying anything wet, such as a person after a bath.
He needed a towel for wiping the slippery floor.
verb
- 1
To dry by using a towel.
He got out of the shower and toweled himself dry.
- 2
To hit with a towel.
- 3
To block up (a door, etc.) with a towel, to conceal the fumes of a recreational drug.
- 4
UKobsoleteTo beat with a stick, or "oaken towel".
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Towel in Spanish, French, German and Portuguese
In the sense cloth used for wiping:
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract). Translations are Wiktionary's, by sense; a linked word has its own PlainSpell page.
Where does towel come from?
From Middle English towayle, towel, towail, towaille, from Old French toaille (“towel”) (modern French touaille), Medieval Latin toallia, from Frankish *þwahilu (“cloth”), from Proto-Germanic *þwahaną (“to wash”). Cognate with Old High German dwahila (“towel”) (modern dialectal German Zwehle), Dutch dwaal (“towel”), dweil (“mop”), Low German Dweel (“towel”), Old English þwǣle (“band; ribbon; fillet”), Old English þwēan (“to wash”).
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).