tower
/ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/
"tower" is a 5-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“tower” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #3,031 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #3,031
- frequency rank, English
- 5
- letters
- 7
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
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 | tower |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #3,031 |
| Misspellings tracked | 7 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “tower” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for tower is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/. Corpus data places it at rank #3,031 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 14 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for tower, with forms such as "otwer", "toewr", and "towerr". 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 20 confusable-pair relationships, "town", "towns", "Tyler", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English tour, tur, tor, from Old English tūr, tor, torr ("tower; rock"; > English tor) and Old French tour, toer, tor; both from Latin turris (“a tower”), Ancient Greek τύρρις (túrrhis) (Hesychius), τύρσις (túrsis). Compare Scots tour, towr, tow… The correct English form is tower, spelled T-O-W-E-R.
Definition
- 1A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
- 2A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
- 3A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
- 4A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
- 5A tall, narrow structure (significantly taller than it is wide, either standing alone or forming part of a larger structure.
- 6An item of various kinds, such as a computer case, that is higher than it is wide.
- 7A strong refuge; a defence.
- 8Each of a set of information technology concerns within a business, which are treated separately so that they can be handled by different providers.
- 9The sixteenth named (trump or Major Arcana) card in many Tarot decks, usually deemed an ill omen.
- 10The nineteenth Lenormand card, representing structure, bureaucracy, stability and loneliness.
- 11A group of giraffes.
- 12A metal stand used as a pivot to support a punty at a furnace.
- 13A tall fashionable headdress worn in the time of King William III and Queen Anne.
- 14High flight; elevation.
Etymology
From Middle English tour, tur, tor, from Old English tūr, tor, torr ("tower; rock"; > English tor) and Old French tour, toer, tor; both from Latin turris (“a tower”), Ancient Greek τύρρις (túrrhis) (Hesychius), τύρσις (túrsis). Compare Scots tour, towr, towre (“tower”), West Frisian toer (“tower”), Dutch toren (“tower”), German Turm (“tower”), Danish tårn (“tower”), Swedish torn (“tower”), Icelandic turn (“tower”), Welsh tŵr. Doublet of tor, tourelle, and turret.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: otwer,toewr,towerr,towre,towwer,ttower,twoer
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of tower - 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.
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 "tower"?
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Using “tower”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is T-O-W-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈtaʊ.ə(ɹ)/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “town” - see the side-by-side comparison. tower vs town
- 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.